Ethereum Gas Wars: Why They’re Back (And How to Win Them in 2025)

I still remember the Otherside mint in 2022—gas spiked, the mempool turned into a mosh pit, and friends pinged me at 2 a.m. asking if 2 ETH in fees was “normal.” It was brutal. Then 2024 hit, Ethereum shipped blobs, and for a minute it felt like the wars were over. Spoiler: they’re not. They just moved fronts—from L1 base fee frenzies to L2 blob markets, builder auctions, and a new style of priority bidding that punishes the unprepared. (vitalik.eth.limo)

What is an Ethereum “gas war,” really?

A gas war is a fee arms race when demand for blockspace (or blobspace) overwhelms supply. The mechanics evolved:

• Pre-2024: users cranked tips on L1 to jump the queue.

• Post-Dencun: rollups cram data into cheap “blobs,” which mostly keeps L1 calm—but blob markets can spike, pushing L2 posting costs up and backfilling pressure on users. (ethereum.org)

And when everyone rushes the same mint, airdrop, or memecoin? Same movie, new theater.

Why it matters now

Two reasons.

1) Blobs changed the battlefield. After the March 13, 2024 Dencun upgrade, L2 fees fell dramatically. But blob space is finite, lasts ~18 days, and has its own base fee. When new demand floods in (inscriptions, airdrops), blob fees can rip—fast. That’s when swaps and mints on L2s suddenly feel like the old days. (ethereum.org)

2) MEV-era block building. With proposer-builder separation via MEV-Boost, block builders run auctions for orderflow. A handful of builders have outsized share, and access to private orderflow can decide who wins. This concentrates power and can impact inclusion times during hot moments—the core of modern gas wars. (arxiv.org)

What changed since 2024: the blob era

I watched it unfold in real time. Fees collapsed on many rollups after blobs went live. Cheaper data availability meant cheaper user transactions. Then the first big “blob war” landed: Blobscriptions. A clever twist on inscriptions surged on March 27, 2024, and blob base fees mooned from essentially free to hundreds of gwei within hours. Base’s fees spiked with it. The message was clear—blobs are a market, and markets price in mania. (theblock.co, cointelegraph.com)

By mid-2024 we even saw “blob inversions,” where blobdata briefly became pricier than calldata, catching slower L2s off-guard and overpaying six figures in aggregate. If you were batch-posting without a dynamic switch, you ate it. (blocknative.com)

The state of fees in 2025 (yes, they really did fall)

Zooming out, average fees are way down versus the 2020–2022 chaos. Several snapshots this year showed mainnet gas shaving down to low single-digit gwei, with typical transactions costing under a buck—sometimes much less—depending on activity. It’s not constant, but the floor is much friendlier than the DeFi Summer days. (ycharts.com, etherscan.io)

On L2s, data costs for posting batches plunged post-Dencun, and many networks now routinely quote sub-cent to low‑tens‑of‑cents user actions—until a stampede hits blobspace. That’s the new whipsaw to watch. (mirror.xyz)

Quick definitions that actually help in a war

• Base fee: automatic, adjusts per demand; you can’t bribe it down.

• Priority fee (tip): still matters; overpaying is how you cut the line during spikes.

• Blob fee: like a base fee for L2 batch data; if it spikes, the L2’s costs (and often your fee) rise. (ethereum.org)

How gas wars show up in 2025

• L2 airdrops and hype mints: Blob base fee surges for minutes to hours; swaps clog; bridges queue. (cointelegraph.com)

• Inscription crazes: suddenly blobspace competes with L2s; cost curves invert. (theblock.co, blockworks.com)

• Builder auctions: dominance by a few builders can impact whose transactions get in under extreme contention. Not gonna lie—latency and private orderflow matter. (arxiv.org)

Tying it to crypto cycles and the Bitcoin halving

Cycles compress and amplify demand. Around halving windows, new capital rotates, memecoins pop, and blockspace demand surges. The 2024 BTC halving reset the narrative—supply shock, ETF flows, the whole “inflation hedge” debate rebooted—and I watched the spillover hit Ethereum’s periphery: new users, new speculation, sudden bursts of L2 activity. When cycles heat up, gas wars follow. (charts.bitbo.io)

Bitcoin halving history (for context)

Halving | Date | Block reward after

—————————————-

2012 | Nov 28, 2012 | 25 BTC

2016 | Jul 9, 2016 | 12.5 BTC

2020 | May 11, 2020 | 6.25 BTC

2024 | Apr 19, 2024 | 3.125 BTC

How long do cycles last? Historically 3–4 years from halving to halving, with mid-cycle drawdowns that feel like eternity. The key for gas wars: expect demand spikes in the 6–18 months post-halving as liquidity rotates and retail wakes up. (charts.bitbo.io)

Trading strategies: how I dodge gas shrapnel

Here’s what saved me (and my sanity) lately:

• Time your moves. Fees are diurnal. When hype hits, I step back and queue size later. If I must act, I set a hard max base/priority fee and live with the miss. Watch blob dashboards during L2 events. (etherscan.io)

• Use MEV-protected orderflow. Private RPCs and solvers can cut sandwich risk and wasted tips. In my portfolio, routing swaps through MEV-aware endpoints has reduced slippage during spikes.

• Go L2-native—but blob-aware. Rollups are cheap most days, but if blob fees spike, wait for the wave to pass or switch venues. Advanced wallets and bridges are starting to surface blob fee hints; pay attention. (mirror.xyz)

• Batch and bundle. If you’re minting or claiming, hit off-peak windows and batch approvals. Gas saved is basis points earned.

• Park in stablecoins when needed. If you’re hedging inflation with stablecoins, park on a cheap L2, earn modest on-chain yields, and pounce when fees calm. Keeps powder dry without paying L1 tax every time.

• Respect builder dynamics. During mania, inclusion can hinge on who your frontend routes to. If a venue has privileged orderflow with a dominant builder, your “fast” might be faster. That edge is squishy, but real. (arxiv.org)

If you’re hedging inflation with stablecoins, here’s what I’d do…

• Keep core cash on a low-fee L2 (Starknet, Base, OP, Arbitrum—compare live fees).

• Use MEV-protected swaps when rotating stables.

• Pre-fund gas on two L2s so you can pivot if one blob market spikes.

• Set alerts for blob base fee surges; if it rips, wait—most spikes fade within hours. (blocknative.com)

Best practices for builders and power users

• Dynamic posting: rollups should auto-switch between blobs and calldata when blob fees invert. We literally saw six-figure overpayments when they didn’t. (blocknative.com)

• Fair ordering and transparency: builder oligopolies are a risk. Diversity of relays/builders, inclusion lists, and open metrics help. Users feel it in their fees when competition drops. (arxiv.org)

• Previews in wallets: blob fee hints and “wait-or-send” guidance should be default UX.

Why gas might stay calmer—mostly

With blobs live and >18-day DA windows, Ethereum offloaded the heaviest L2 data costs into a separate market. That decouples many user actions from the old L1 fee rollercoaster. But blobs aren’t magical. They’re scarce. When social manias collide with blobspace, brace for impact. My take: we’ll see longer stretches of low fees interrupted by sharp, short spikes—classic 2025. (ethereum.org)

The bottom line (and the edge)

Gas wars didn’t vanish; they evolved. If you lean into timing, private orderflow, blob-aware tooling, and multi-L2 optionality, you can dodge most shrapnel—and sometimes even trade the chaos. That’s why I lean on tools like vtrader.io to set fee alerts, watch blob markets, and script entries during off-peak windows. In this market, reaction time is alpha. Use it.

Sources:

• https://ethereum.org/roadmap/dencun/

• https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/data-availability/blockchain-data-storage-strategies/

• https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2024/03/28/blobs.html

• https://www.theblock.co/post/285156/ethereum-blobs-are-now-being-used-to-create-inscriptions-like-on-bitcoin

• https://www.blocknative.com/blog/june-20th-2024-blob-contention-event-retrospective

• https://ycharts.com/indicators/ethereum_average_gas_price

• https://etherscan.io/gasTracker

• https://mirror.xyz/blog.growthepie.eth/M32uiQI4e-atNK2CilbqaoTHUjqlvugjxEZaMVALjWY

• https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.13931

• https://charts.bitbo.io/halving-dates/