Scaling via EIP-7691: The L2 fee race continues

Pectra data capacity

EIP-7691 increases the number of blobs in a block. This change provides more scale to Ethereum via L2 solutions that rely on L1 data capacity. Because EIP-7691 increases the target blob count from 3 to 6 and the maximum from 6 to 9, Layer 2 solutions that rely on L1 data capacity gain the extra scale they need to keep fees low. Pectra introduced 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals on May 7, 2025. I find the inclusion of EIP-7702 significant because it allows wallets to act like smart contracts for a single transaction. This enables token-based gas payments and batching without requiring users to deploy new contracts. Pectra also includes EIP-7251, which raises the validator stake cap from 32 to 2,048 ETH, and EIP-2537, which adds BLS12-381 precompiles to lower gas costs for staking and zero-knowledge applications. EIP-7623 and EIP-7840 also introduce blob scheduling and better communication between Ethereum’s execution and consensus layers. I observe that these changes aim to reduce congestion and improve liquidity for stakers. Pectra combines the Prague execution layer and Electra consensus layer updates to prepare for future upgrades like Verkle trees.

Arbitrum vs zkSync

Arbitrum provides different solutions like Arbitrum One for DeFi, Arbitrum Nova for high-throughput applications, and Arbitrum Orbit for customizable blockchain networks. thirdweb uses Arbitrum Stylus to design efficient airdrop contracts using Rust, C, and C++. They report 10% gas savings on Merkle claim computations and 500,000 gas saved in large push-based airdrops. I see a surge in WASM adoption because Stylus allows developers to import external Rust crates for math and cryptographic operations. While Arbitrum pushes WASM, zkSync Era uses validium to keep some data off-chain. This method uses ZK-SNARKs to verify transactions while keeping certain data private. GRVT uses zkSync’s modular ZK Stack to build a hyperchain that handles 3,000 times more volume than an on-chain engine and settles trades 60 times faster than leading DEXs. GRVT’s matching engine handles 600,000 TPS. I notice the Optimism Superchain interop cluster faces delays. Can the Ethereum ecosystem keep its lead while L2s focus on specialized languages?

The low fee race

Base L2 reached a sub-cent transaction fee milestone. This achievement makes the EIP-7691 throughput increase relevant right now. I notice the competition between Arbitrum’s WASM adoption and zkSync’s validium costs is heating up. While Arbitrum scales through language interoperability, zkSync scales by reducing the data footprint through its modular ZK Stack. I see the Pectra upgrade as a way to prevent L2s from hitting a data bottleneck. Low fees on Base may not last if blob capacity remains insufficient. Solana processes up to 65,000 transactions per second, making its speed a benchmark for L1s. Hedera fees remain fixed at one-hundredth of a cent. Ethereum currently processes around 12 transactions per second, which is far below the millions of transactions per second developers envision for a global future. I find the divergence between L1 performance and L2 data availability costs to be the main driver for the current market. The upcoming Glamsterdam upgrade targets a May or June 2026 launch to address sequential bottlenecks through EIP-7928. This proposal introduces Block-Level Access Lists to enable parallel execution. Early analyses suggest gas fees could drop by approximately 78% as capacity increases. This follows a period where the ETH/BTC ratio sat near 0.028, a level that preceded significant outperformance. BlackRock’s iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) launched on March 12, 2026, pulling $155 million in first-day inflows. The ETHA product also holds $6.5 billion in assets under management. Optimism Superchain users are still waiting for the interop cluster to resolve its current delays. The market follows the pattern of the London Hard Fork of August 5, 2021.