A year since Ethereum's Dencun upgrade, the network has seen a major reduction in average gas fees, making transactions significantly cheaper.
Gas Fee Reduction
The upgrade, which went live on March 13, 2024, merged two significant upgrades: the Cancun upgrade for Ethereum’s execution layer and the Deneb upgrade for its consensus layer. Consequently, the average gas price fell from 72 gwei to 2.7 gwei, greatly decreasing the cost of standard transactions like token swaps and NFT sales.
Impact on ETH Price
Despite the drop in gas fees, ETH's price has declined by 53% since the upgrade. In March 2024, ETH was valued at $4,070, but by March 2025, it had fallen to $1,891.
Issues with New Pectra Upgrade
Ethereum's scheduled Pectra upgrade, set for April 2025, is already encountering issues. After its release on the Sepolia testnet, errors surfaced, but the Ethereum team managed to stabilize the network, and transactions are proceeding normally.
The Dencun upgrade has significantly lowered operational fees in the Ethereum network, yet the drop in ETH price suggests challenges Ethereum faced over the past year.
