Ethereum News Today: Ethereum proposes unified fee market to cut costs and boost scalability

Ethereum developers are moving forward with a proposal to overhaul the network’s fee market system in an effort to simplify transaction costs for users while boosting efficiency and scalability. The proposal, known as EIP-7999, introduces a unified, multidimensional fee market that allows users to specify a single aggregate maximum fee—“max_fee”—for multiple transaction resources, including compute, storage, and data [1]. This change is intended to eliminate the need for users to estimate and manage separate fees for each resource, streamlining the fee-setting process and reducing user error [2].

Co-founder Vitalik Buterin and developer Anders Elowsson introduced the proposal, which aims to improve capital efficiency and user experience by enabling users to pay a single maximum fee for multiple transaction resources [3]. The proposal has been described as a method to “simplify fee management,” addressing Ethereum’s long-standing issue with unpredictable and sometimes prohibitively high gas fees [4].

Ethereum’s gas fees have been a persistent challenge since the network’s rapid growth in 2017, when rising demand from decentralized applications and initial coin offerings led to network congestion and soaring transaction costs. The situation worsened during the 2021 DeFi and NFT boom, with average gas fees frequently exceeding $50. While the EIP-1559 upgrade in August 2021 helped moderate fee spikes, periods of high congestion still led to volatility in transaction costs. Layer 2 scaling solutions like Optimism and Arbitrum have since gained traction by processing transactions off-chain to reduce fees, but the mainnet’s fee structure remained a key concern [1].

The March 2024 Dencun upgrade marked a significant step in reducing gas costs. It included nine Ethereum Improvement Proposals aimed at improving scalability, particularly for layer-2 solutions. Over the following year, average gas fees for common transactions dropped by 95%, from about $86 to just $0.39 [2]. Despite this progress, Ethereum remained the top blockchain by transaction fee revenue in 2024, earning $2.48 billion, though this figure represented a 3% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, competitors like Tron and Solana gained ground, with Tron’s fees more than doubling and Solana’s surging by 2,838% [3].

The new proposal builds on Ethereum’s ongoing efforts to make the network more user-friendly and cost-effective. By consolidating the fee-setting process into a single parameter, the system is expected to enhance reliability and reduce the risk of failed transactions caused by misconfigured fee settings. The multidimensional fee market approach also aims to better manage temporary surges in network demand while maintaining price stability across different resource types [4].

Industry observers have welcomed the proposal as a potential solution to Ethereum’s long-standing fee challenges, noting that a more intuitive and streamlined fee mechanism could make the network more attractive for everyday transactions and decentralized applications [5].

[1] Ethereum News Today: Vitalik Buterin Proposes ...

(https://www.ainvest.com/news/ethereum-news-today-vitalik-buterin-proposes-ethereum-fee-market-overhaul-enhanced-efficiency-scalability-2508/)

[2] Ethereum Proposes Unified Multidimensional Fee Market

(https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/08-05-2025-ethereum-proposes-unified-multidimensional-fee-market-27909253879121)

[3] Vitalik proposes multidimensional Ethereum fees amid ...

(https://cryptonews.net/news/ethereum/31379349/)

[4] Ethereum's New Proposal EIP-0000 Introduces a Unified ...

(https://www.bitget.com/news/detail/12560604896470)

[5] Platinum Crypto Academy: How to Trade Cryptocurrency in ...

(https://www.platinumcryptoacademy.com/)