Latest Ethereum News and Insights | Yellow.com

Ethereum's gas prices have nosedived to a 5-year low. Median fees dropped to 1.9 gwei. This highlights the growing influence of layer-2 solutions. The cost to send a transaction on Ethereum has hit rock bottom. Low-priority transactions now cost about 1 gwei or less. That's roughly seven cents. Dune Analytics paints a clear picture. On August 10th, Ethereum's median gas fees bottomed out at 1.9 gwei. It's a massive 98% drop from March's year-to-date high of 83.1 gwei. We haven't seen fees this low since mid-2019. The Dencun upgrade in March played a role. It introduced data blobs, or proto-danksharding. The goal? Slash transaction costs for layer-2 blockchains. Layer-2 networks are the new cool kids on the block. They process more transactions at lower cost. How? By offloading them from the main Ethereum network. But they still rely on L1 for validation. Martin Köppelmann, Gnosis co-founder, chimed in on X. "Ethereum needs to get more L1 activity again," he wrote on August 10th. He's worried about financing staking incentives. These payments go to folks who help validate blockchain transactions. The numbers don't lie. L2Beat data shows Ethereum's layer-2 activity hit 33 million transactions in the last 30 days. The base blockchain? A whopping 109 million. Layer 2's Arbitrum and Taiko are killing it. They processed 97 million transactions in the past month. That's some serious volume. But here's the kicker. Ultra Sound Money reports Ether supply has increased by about 13,400 ETH. That's $34.1 million in the last week. And this is despite less usage in transactions and staker payouts. So, what's the bottom line? Ethereum's gas fees are dirt cheap. Layer-2 networks are booming. But the OG blockchain might need to step up its game. It's a wild time in the crypto world, folks. Buckle up.

Aleph Zero, a blockchain startup, has launched its Ethereum-compatible layer-2 solution. The move aims to boost privacy and speed in blockchain transactions. The new layer integrates Arbitrum Orbit technology. It also uses zero-knowledge operating system (zkOS) tools. Aleph Zero's layer 2 will run on top of its existing blockchain. This setup should cut block times to a mere 250 milliseconds. "AZERO, the ecosystem token, will be used on the Layer-2 to power all gas transactions," the company said in a statement. The project is a team effort with Gelato, a rollup-as-a-service provider. It's designed to make Ethereum app development easier. Aleph Zero plans to roll out its zkOS privacy toolkit in Q4. This should speed up zero-knowledge proofs and beef up privacy features. In a parallel move, the firm announced a $50 million funding program. It's meant to attract developers to build on the platform. Antoni Zolciak, Aleph Zero's co-founder, told Cointelegraph the program aims to "fund innovations from developer teams." The cash isn't just grants, but wider support. Zolciak also dished on privacy in crypto. He reckons most users don't get Web3 privacy. They're cool with trading privacy for free stuff. "There's a split between privacy tokens and privacy-enhancing blockchain infrastructure," Zolciak explained. "Most folks don't see the difference."

A crypto heavyweight is making waves. They've been snapping up Ethereum like it's going out of style. In less than two months, this whale has amassed nearly $100 million worth of ETH. Blockchain tracker Lookonchain broke the news. An Ethereum address starting with "0x78D07" bought $4.7 million of ETH on Friday. This adds to their already massive stack. "This whale has accumulated 37,800 ETH ($99 million) since May 24th," Lookonchain reported. The average buying price? $2,420. Current unrealized profit? A cool $7.5 million. It's not just any whale. Lookonchain calls them "smart money". They've got a perfect track record of profitable trades. Since late May, they've scooped up about $70 million in ETH. Where's all this ETH coming from? Binance, the biggest crypto exchange out there. On-chain data doesn't lie. Lookonchain noted, "The smart money with a 100% win rate bought 2,424 ETH ($7.22 million)... He has bought 19,436 ETH ($68.25 million) at $3,511 since May 29th!" As of writing, Ethereum's price sits at $2,551. That's down 3% in 24 hours. But this whale doesn't seem fazed. While some are buying ETH, others are cashing out. Lookonchain spotted a whale dumping their Pepe (PEPE) stash. PEPE's an ETH-based memecoin, for those not in the know. "The whale deposited all the remaining 395.92 billion PEPE ($3.4 million) into Binance... hours ago," Lookonchain said. Total profit? $5.06 million, a 199% return. Not too shabby. PEPE's currently trading at $0.00000785. It's down nearly 9% today. Looks like that whale got out just in time. So what's the deal? One whale's buying ETH like there's no tomorrow, while another's ditching memecoins. Just another day in crypto, folks.

Ethereum's recent performance has raised eyebrows. Despite its Wall Street debut, ETH has struggled to keep pace with competitors. The crypto market took a nosedive on Sunday. ETH-to-BTC conversion ratio hit a yearly low of 0.041. Digital assets have since rebounded. Yet, the ratio remains at 0.043. This trend bucks expectations. Typically, altcoins outperform Bitcoin in bull markets. Capital often flows from Bitcoin to riskier assets. This held true for Solana and meme coins like PEPE and WIF. Ethereum, however, didn't follow suit. Financial analyst Wesley Kress tweeted his concerns. "Ethereum is trading horribly this cycle," he wrote. "People are realizing it's not the future." Not everyone shares this pessimism. Some analysts believe time will favor Ethereum. They argue the new Ethereum spot ETFs need time to take effect. Crypto influencer Crypto Kaleo offered perspective. He noted Ethereum ETFs have been live for just twelve days. This mirrors Bitcoin's post-ETF timeline before its rebound in January. ETFs should theoretically boost ETH's price. They allow institutions previously barred by regulations to invest in Ethereum. But the reality might be more complex. Jonathan Bier, FarsideUK CIO, shared insights with Decrypt. "Much of the success will be driven by people and entities shifting their existing [Ethereum Trust] holdings into ETFs," he said. Bier pointed out that Grayscale's Ethereum unwind could be more severe than its Bitcoin counterpart. Investors face capital gains taxes when selling Ethereum Trust shares. "At the same time Ethereum investors are always looking for the latest thing with the newest tech," Bier added. "They're less loyal than Bitcoin investors." Solana has been nipping at Ethereum's heels. It overtook Ethereum in total transaction fees in late July. This marked a first for the upstart blockchain. On-chain metrics paint a mixed picture for ETH. CryptoQuant data shows Bitcoin's "realized capitalization" rose by $187 billion this year. Ethereum's increased by $127 billion. Julio Moreno, CryptoQuant's Head of Research, told Decrypt, "Bitcoin has overperformed Ethereum in certain network fundamental metrics." He noted a decline in the ratio of Ethereum to Bitcoin transactions, mirroring the ETH/BTC price ratio drop. The crypto world is a rollercoaster. Ethereum's current slump might be temporary. But it's clear the blockchain giant faces stiff competition. Investors are watching closely. The next few months could be make-or-break for Ethereum's market position.

Ethereum's network is showing signs of trouble. Transaction numbers have hit their lowest point in five months. This downturn comes amid a broader cryptocurrency market slump, with investor interest and trading activity taking a hit. The mainnet is seeing less action. TOBTC, a trading platform, broke the news on X. The drop raises eyebrows about Ethereum's short-term prospects. Are investors in panic? Have they switched to Solana and other competitors? Anyways, this falling is a stark contrast to January's peak. Then, the network processed a whopping 36.02 million monthly transactions. Now, users seem to be looking elsewhere. TOBTC reports a significant slowdown. The seven-day moving average has settled at 1.12 million daily transactions. It's a level not seen since February. The transaction count isn't the only issue. Active wallet addresses have also taken a nosedive, dropping to about 400,000. But there's a silver lining. Ethereum layer 2 solutions are picking up the slack. Base network, backed by Coinbase, is leading the charge. It's clocking an impressive 3.83 million transactions in a single day. This surge highlights a shift. Users are flocking to layer 2 solutions over the Ethereum mainnet. Why? They're cheaper and faster, while still maintaining Ethereum's robust security features. The web3 ecosystem faces challenges. Interoperability across different networks has been a persistent headache. But Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's co-founder, sees light at the end of the tunnel. As he usually does. Buterin's optimistic about layer 2 networks. He reckons they're on the cusp of solving these long-standing issues. He recently predicted that cross-L2 interoperability problems will soon be a thing of the past, once again proving that he is a force of nature rather than just an ordinary blockchain geek (like we didn't know that already).