2022---ethereum--transaction-fees--finally--plummeting---the-merge-has-nothing-to-do-with-it [GENUINE]

Networks like and Optimism gained massive adoption.

In 2022, Ethereum transaction fees (gas) experienced a significant and sustained drop, reaching their lowest levels in years. Contrary to popular belief, Why the Merge Didn't Lower Fees The Merge was a consensus change. It replaced miners with validators to secure the network.

The 2022 "crypto winter" led to a massive drop in trading volume. Networks like and Optimism gained massive adoption

While the Merge improved Ethereum's energy efficiency by 99%, fee reduction is being addressed through . This phase of the roadmap focuses on "sharding" and "data blobs" (EIP-4844), which specifically aim to make Layer 2 transactions even cheaper and increase overall network throughput.

It did not significantly expand the network's capacity to handle more transactions per second. It replaced miners with validators to secure the network

The adoption of Flashbots helped move much of the "bidding" for transaction priority off-chain.

These "rollups" process transactions off-chain and bundle them, significantly reducing the load on the Ethereum Mainnet. This phase of the roadmap focuses on "sharding"

Since the Merge didn't change the block size or the speed of block production significantly, it had no direct impact on gas prices. The Real Reasons Fees Plummeted