<\/p>\n
Nearly $63M worth of ETH was burned in the past two weeks.<\/p>\n
The circulating supply of Ether is at a new post-merge low after a recent jump in gas fees pushed up Ethereum\u2019s burn-rate.<\/p>\n
Data from Ultra Sound Money shows the supply of Ether sitting below 120.16M after more than 21,000 ETH worth $62.8M were destroyed over the past two weeks. Ether\u2019s supply has now dropped by 362,628 ETH since Ethereum\u2019s Shanghai upgrade, also known as\u00a0The Merge<\/a>, was activated in September 2022.<\/p>\n Ethereum\u2019s Shanghai upgrade transitioned Ethereum to Proof of Stake consensus, bringing with it a roughly 90% reduction in new Ether issuance.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While more than 1.05M ETH has entered supply as rewards for stakers since The Merge, Ethereum\u2019s burn mechanism has permanently destroyed more than 1.4M ETH over the same period.<\/p>\n The recent spike in transaction fees follows an uptick in decentralized exchange (DEX) trade volumes amid bullish momentum in the crypto markets, alongside an increase in NFT sales, and activity on Layer 2 networks. <\/p>\n DEXes processed more than $5B worth of trades over the past 24 hours \u2014 up 134% since Feb. 4, according to DeFi Llama. As of this writing, traders are racing to exit positions as ETH pulls back after breaching $3,000 for the first time in 22 months. <\/p>\n Data from Dune Analytics shows NFT volume jumping to\u00a0$33M<\/a>\u00a0on Feb. 19, up 114% since Feb. 2.<\/p>\n Activity on Layer 2 networks is also bubbling, contributing to Ethereum mainnet congestion as L2 transactions are submitted to the base layer for finalization.<\/p>\n Data from L2beat shows combined Layer 2 throughput tagging its second-highest level on record during Feb. 17 and Feb. 18, with L2s processing more than\u00a092.4<\/a>\u00a0transactions per second on average.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Start for free<\/a><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Average transaction fees\u00a0doubled<\/a>\u00a0in the past three days, according to Etherscan.<\/p>\n Analysts have also attributed the increase in gas fees to the launch of the\u00a0ERC-404 token standard<\/a>\u00a0in early February. ERC-404 facilitates NFT fractionalization by utilizing both ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens, resulting in gas-intensive transactions.<\/p>\n \u201cERC-404\u2026 allows multiple wallets to claim ownership of a single NFT – in other words, fractionalizing the ownership of the token,\u201d said Alun Evans, the CEO and co-founder of Laos Network. \u201cThis ties in neatly with the recent interest in the tokenization of Real-World Assets, as it leads to concepts of fractionalized ownership of high-value RWA such as real estate and art\u2026 hence the rush to adopt it, which has resulted in the spike in gas prices.\u201d<\/p>\n PANDORA, an ERC-404, surged 5,000% within one week after launching on Feb. 2, illustrating interest in the new standard. According to Ycharts, Ethereum\u2019s average daily transaction fees tagged\u00a0$71.42<\/a>\u00a0two weeks ago \u2014 its highest level since May 2023.<\/p>\nEthereum on-chain activity jumps<\/h2>\n
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ERC-404<\/h2>\n