Anonymous blockchain analyst polynya.eth shares comparative research of swap fees across mainstream L1s, L2s and some DeFi protocols
High transactional fees should be considered one of the most dangerous bottlenecks of the global DeFi ecosystem. During periods of network congestion, they can paralyze dApps and make trading unprofitable.
Cardano (ADA) remains most expensive platform outside Ethereum (ETH)
Polynya.eth (@epolynya in Twitter) took a number of Layer 1 platforms (Ethereum, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain, Cardano) and Layer 2 scalability solutions for Ethereum (Optimism, Arbitrum) to figure out which one is the most cost-efficient right now.
Tx fees for AMM swaps right now:
zkSync: $0.10
BSC: $0.37
Avalanche C: $0.39
Ethereum: $4.55
Optimism: $0.28 (<$0.20 with ZipSwap)
Arbitrum One: $0.75
Fantom: $0.02
Polygon PoS: $0.006
Ronin: $0.00
Loopring: $0.00*
Solana: $0.002**
Cardano: $0.86***
Terra: $0.09
dYdX: $0.014^— polynya (@epolynya) March 20, 2022
It looks like next-gen smart contracts platforms can offer really low fees, as far as simple swaps are concerned. For instance, Polygon (MATIC) charges users with a $0.006 fee, while Solana (SOL) can swap assets with three times lower fees.
Terra (LUNA) and Fantom (FTM), the most overhyped dApps hosting platforms of Q1, 2022, charge their transactions with $0.09 and $0.02 fees, respectively.
“Classic” Ethereum killers BSC (now BNB Chain) and Avalanche offer $0.37 and $0.39 commissions for cross-asset swaps.
By contrast, Cardano’s fees are still over $2, @epolynya adds in comments. This makes the largest proof-of-stake (PoS) network the most expensive blockchain for dApps outside Ethereum (ETH).
What does this mean?
But the most interesting outcome of this research is the impressive progress of second-layer solutions for Ethereum (ETH) based on rollups. This technology significantly reduces transactional pressure on Ethereum (ETH) mainnet by processing some data off-chain.
zkSync technology allows users to swap assets with a $0.1 fee, while Optimism with integrated ZipSwap charges $0.15 for a swap operation. This result looks revolutionary as:
In short: rollups are already as cheap as alt-L1s, by and large. With more activity, they’ll get cheaper, and with optimizations cheaper still.
Also, the analyst adds that both Optimism and Arbitrum have major upgrades pending. The upcoming advances might make their fees up to 10 times lower than today.