In the five full trading days following Pectra's launch, the daily number of blobs purchased by rollups increased from approximately 21,200 to 25,600. Despite this, the average number of blobs per block remains 33% below the new target of 6.

On May 7, 2025, Ethereum's Pectra upgrade went live on the mainnet. Among the series of Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) implemented, EIP-7691 proposed an increase in the target and maximum number of blobs per block. Blobs were introduced via EIP-4844 (proto-danksharding) in last year's Dencun upgrade, providing rollups with a dedicated data publication space. Since Dencun's launch, the network maintained a target of 3 blobs per block (Target) and a maximum of 6 (Max), with each blob being 128KB—equivalent to roughly 5.5GB of daily data capacity. Post-Pectra, the target and maximum blobs per block were raised to 6 and 9, respectively, increasing daily blob data capacity to approximately 8.15GB.

This change impacts the blob market, rollups, and Ethereum validators, as reduced blob space scarcity lessens competition among rollups while expanding the network's data availability (DA) capacity. Below, we explore how Pectra's adjustments to Ethereum's blob parameters affect the blob market, rollups and their users, Ethereum validators, and ETH supply.

Key Takeaways

• In the five full trading days post-Pectra, daily blob purchases by rollups rose from ~21,200 to 25,600, yet the average blobs per block remain 33% below the new target of 6.

• With actual blobs per block far below the updated target, blobs have again become nearly free—the first time since mid-April 2025. Rollups now pay less than one-thousandth of a cent daily for blobs, with cumulative post-Pectra payments at just one-four-thousandth of a cent. This has drastically reduced the ETH burned by rollups for data space usage and Ethereum publication.

• Nodes must retain rollup blob data for at least 18 days before pruning. The rise in daily blob purchases has pushed the data storage requirement for consensus-layer nodes to a record high of 44.6GB.

• Lower blob costs have improved rollups' profit margins (both relatively and absolutely), with Base benefiting the most in net post-on-chain-cost revenue. However, some major rollups have kept transaction costs unchanged or even slightly higher since Pectra's launch.

• All data is sourced from Galaxy Research's public dashboard on Ethereum's blob market and its impact on rollups.

Blob Market

Since Pectra's launch on May 7, 2025, daily blob purchases by rollups have increased by 20.8% compared to pre-upgrade levels. In the 60 days before Pectra, rollups averaged 21,200 daily blob purchases. Post-upgrade, the five full trading days saw an average of 25,600 blobs daily, raising daily data capacity from 2.7GB to 3.3GB.

Despite the increase, daily blob usage post-Pectra averages only two-thirds of the new target. Thus, while pre-Pectra blob usage aligned with the target, rollups have yet to reach demand levels that consistently meet the new target rate.

Consequently, blobs have again become nearly free, as only two-thirds of the target blobs per block are utilized. This marks the first time since mid-April 2025 that blobs have been this cheap. Since Pectra's launch, the median price per blob is just $0.00000000035 (nine zeros), meaning rollups pay at most $0.0000092 daily, with total blob costs at $0.0000395—less than one-thousandth of a cent daily and no more than one-four-thousandth of a cent cumulatively. (Note: This excludes type-3 transaction fees for on-chain blob execution.)

In the 60 days pre-Pectra, rollups paid an average of $16,250 daily in blob fees, totaling ~$1,095,000. Post-upgrade, fees have dropped nearly 100%.

Data Capacity and Impact on Ethereum Nodes

Post-Pectra, a larger proportion of Ethereum's total daily blob data capacity remains unpurchased. While rollups buy more blobs and data space, relative usage of total daily capacity has declined. Once rollup demand reaches the new target, the blob market will operate more efficiently, as the new target rate is only 33% below the maximum (versus 50% under the old parameters).

Ethereum generates ~7,100 blocks daily, each capable of holding up to 9 blobs, translating to a maximum daily blob capacity of ~8.17GB (5.45GB at target). Currently, only 3.3GB is purchased—40% of max capacity and 61% of target. Pre-Pectra, daily purchases averaged 50% of max and 99% of target capacity.

Each blob can hold up to 128KB of data. Rollups need not use the full 128KB (e.g., 100KB is acceptable), but no single blob can exceed this limit. The gap between purchased blob capacity (green line in charts) and actual usage (red line) shows how much rollups underutilize their allocations. Post-Pectra, the average blob fill rate is 86%, up from 82% in the 60 days pre-upgrade.

The rise in daily blob data purchases means consensus-layer nodes must store more rollup data. Nodes must retain this data for at least 18 days before pruning. Pre-Pectra, this meant storing 40GB–44GB. In the days post-upgrade, this figure climbed to a record 44.6GB by May 12, 2025. If current demand persists, nodes may need to store ~60GB of rollup data; at target rates, this could reach 95GB–100GB.

Rollup Costs and ETH Burn

Since Pectra's launch, rollups have averaged $11,015 daily in blob-related costs (including blobs and type-3 execution fees), down 51% from $20,660 in the 60 pre-upgrade days.

A sharp rise in Ethereum L1 fees has kept rollup costs from falling further. In the week post-Pectra, Ethereum L1 base fees surged over 650%. Without this spike, rollup execution costs would be even lower, and ETH burned via blob activity would decline further.

ETH burned for blob-based data publication (including blob purchases and type-3 execution fees) has dropped significantly post-Pectra. Pre-upgrade, an average of 11.22 ETH was burned daily (37.1% from execution fees). Post-upgrade, this fell to 3.26 ETH daily (down 71%), with 99.99% from execution-layer base fees.

Impact on L2s

Most rollups have seen improved relative and absolute profit margins after on-chain costs. Linea and Base currently lead with 7-day moving averages of 98.86% and 98.54%, respectively. Blast showed the most significant margin improvement, rising from ~50% pre-Pectra to over 80% now.

Post-on-chain costs, rollup net income has risen due to lower data costs and increased activity/fees. All observed rollups have at least doubled revenue and net profits, with Base achieving the highest absolute gains: $1.22 million in revenue and $1.12 million net post-costs under current market conditions.

Conclusion

Rollups are not yet fully utilizing Pectra's expanded Ethereum data availability. As a result, daily fees for blob DA activities have dropped. The upgrade has created a more favorable financial environment for rollups while increasing daily blob usage. However, Pectra's adjustments also highlight a critical issue: greater data storage pressure on nodes. As Ethereum scales blob DA, node operators must shoulder heavier storage responsibilities.