According to the external media review, the expansion of the ETA for almost two years is weakening one of its most representative asset narratives. As transactional activity continued to shift to Layer 2, the destruction of the main network charges decreased significantly, and ETH returned from the post-merger deflation to moderate inflation.

According to the article, this does not mean that the expansion of the Taifu has failed. On the contrary, the problem is precisely the effect of expansion: network use costs are reduced, more transactions are moved to Rollup, the main network no longer continues to generate high fees, as in the past, and ETH destruction is reduced.

EIP-1559 backstopped deflation.

The EIP-1559, which went online in August 2021, changed the system of fare fees. The base costs paid by the users will be destroyed directly, not all of them to the certifying or miner. The more busy the network, the higher the base cost, the more ETH destroyed.

Following the completion of the merger in September 2022, the number of new ETHs dropped significantly with the shift from a proven workload to a proven interest. According to the article, the low-issue superimplementing and ongoing destruction form the basis of the narrative “interrasund money”, i.e. the total supply of ETH may contract over time.

Visible return of the destruction of the network after Dencun

The turning point appears in the March 2024 Dencun upgrade. The upgrade introduces EIP-4844, which provides Rollup with cheaper data release channels, i.e., blob transactions. According to the article, this reduced the Layer2 cost 10 to 100 times, resulting in more activities leaving the main network.

As the Arbitrum, Optimism and Base networks have taken over more transactions, activities that were originally paid for and destroyed ETH on the main network were transferred to the lower-cost Layer2. As a result, the daily destruction of the ITA host network fell from thousands of ETH during the busy period to a low of 50 to 70.

  • March 2024: Dencun upgrade online
  • Day destruction: up to 50 to 70 ETH
  • Annual net supply increase: about 0.2 to 0.8 per cent

Fusaka joins the floor of the global rate

The article mentions that in December 2025, Fusaka was upgraded to EIP-7918 in an attempt to restore some of the minimum destruction levels by setting a floor for the blob costs. Modelling estimates for Fidelity suggest that, if this mechanism were implemented earlier, it could add approximately US$ 78.6 million to destruction over approximately 93 per cent of the trading days since 2024.

However, the article argues that the deeper problems have not disappeared. The main network would be more difficult to maintain if it operated more efficiently and cheaply as an infrastructure, while destruction would rise if the main network was again congested and expensive, and would contradict the goal of expansion.

The article also refers to the opposition of supporters. First, the design of the ETH is not a permanent deflation, but rather a change in destruction in response to demand; second, even when it returns to moderate inflation, the current rate of distribution is much lower than it was before the merger; and third, a large ETH pledge reduces market availability.

Overall, the review concluded that the Etherport had not lost its outreach route, but that the old narrative of “the more busy the network, the more scarce the assets” had been significantly weakened. Since then, the market may be more concerned about whether ETH continues to deflate, but whether it can continue to support the value of its assets with the real demand of the Taifeng in stabilizing currency, monetized assets and DeFi settlements.