Since the EIP-1559 upgrade, on-chain data from Etherchain reveals that the most established smart contract blockchain platform, Ethereum, has been burned at an astounding rate.
On August 5, the EIP-1559 upgrade, also known as the London hard fork, which removed ETH base fees from Ethereum transactions, included a means for burning Ethereum fees. Base fees are the very least that a transaction must pay in order to be included in an Ethereum block.
Since the London hard fork upgrade three months ago, the blockchain has burned 698,903.60 ETH, or $3.02 billion at the time of writing.
The London Hard fork and upgrades are part of Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake network, which will eliminate Ethereum mining and make the currency more long-term sustainable. The update, also known as “the merge” or “ETH 2.0,” seeks to drastically lower the gas costs of the blockchain.
Following the execution of the network update, Ethereum saw a comeback in attention, demand, and price action due to its use in the expanding DeFi and NFT spaces, as well as its role as the “first-mover” in blockchains.