Galaxy’s Alex Thorn calls “ETH extraction” “ETH extraction” amid concerns about fee retention

3 Min Read
3 Min Read

Galaxy Head of Research Alex Thorn criticized many Ethereum (ETH) Layer-2 (L2) blockchain business models as “ETH extraction.”

August 6th social media post, Thorne Discussed Its L2 network is relatively uncontributing to the Ethereum L1, while retaining most of its toll revenue.

Thorn added that most L2s are controlled by a single company or foundation. This means “has little value for ETH holders,” and “most L2s don’t even bet ETH collected at the rate.”

Post EIP-4844

Pointing after the dynamics of the EIP-4844, Thorn noted that the L2 BLOB checking costs and L1 gas spending are around $10,000 per day, while the L2S earns between $100,000 and $400,000 in user fees.

As a result, L2 revenues leave “a great margin even for those that include chain operations.” Blobs are dedicated spaces that provide data storage used in Layer 2 blockchains built on top of Ethereum.

He also contrasts with Base to Optimism Collective payments, as Base uses the OP stack for payments from L2S to Ethereum. Over the past 180 days, Base has paid OP $4.4 million, with all L2 totals paying $3.05 million for the lump and gas Ethereum L1.

Thorn further stated that Coinbase had a base fee revenue of $14.9 million in the second quarter, with L1 data costs of $443,000 and OP $2.16 million, “OP is literally getting a base of 4.8 times more than Ethereum.”

Criticism reached its peak with broader alignment questions.

“… They’re actually “not listening…” They look quite “ETH extractive” to me. ”

Long-term discussion

Base graduated to Stage 1 in April with data aggregator L2Beat, a middle-dispersed layer tier envisioned by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

See also  Ethereum Rainbow Chart predicts ETH prices for August 1, 2025

Stage 1 shows improved fault faults and governance protection guards, while Stage 2 is defined by L2 that does not have a group of actors that can even unanimously post state routes other than the output of the code.

The Coinbase-equipped L2 was found among other chains Recently updated Security measures to prevent ways to block messages to the mainnet other than breaching at least 75% of the network’s security board.

Thorn discussion is revived Long-term discussion Beyond how much economic value L2 should return to Ethereum to the operator or upstream group.

The cost structure since 4844 reduced L2 data costs by introducing blobs, but the balance between L2S and L1 spending and user fees held by staking remains contested.

It is mentioned in this article
Share This Article
Leave a comment