Over 4,200 ETH have been burned in less than 24 hours after the ambitious EIP-1559 upgrade was rolled out

By Selena On Aug 6, 2021

Ethereum hard fork London has been activated on the network, appearing online at block height 12,965,000. The price surged in the hours before the update, and trading volume spiked globally. Furthermore, over 4,200 ETH has been burned less than 24 hours after the upgrade was deployed.

EIP-1559 has already burnt more than $11 million in ETH

The London upgrade has been eagerly awaited, not because it will reduce fees (gas has actually gone up since it launched), but because it is burning them. According to Etherchain, in less than 24 hours since London went live, around 4,200, ETH was burned. This equates to over $11,6 million at the current price of $2,770.

ETH burned per block | Source: Etherchain

Using the current burn rate of 2.5 ETH per minute, the network will destroy 3,600 ETH per day. This will increase when it is under heavy load and gas prices increase. The burns mean everything is working as intended, ahead of Ethereum’s move to a Proof-of-Stake upgrade in the coming months.

One side effect of the London upgrade has been a surge in gas prices. According to Bitinfocharts, average transaction fees on Ethereum have increased by 70% over the past day or two to $15. This is a lot of potential ETH that will now go up in smoke.

Source: BitInfoCharts

With Ether’s newfound scarcity and enhanced usability of its network, analysts say the market dominance gap between Bitcoin and Ethereum could narrow further. However, only time will tell as to when and by how much.

Meanwhile, ARK Investment Management CEO Cathie Wood has declared her support for Ethereum and its vast decentralized finance ecosystem.

.@ARKInvest applauds the DeFi innovation evolving on and around the #Ethereum blockchain. https://t.co/QvK5JA1sIY

— Cathie Wood (@CathieDWood) August 6, 2021

As of June 30, ARK owns 721,936 shares of Grayscale Ethereum Trust, worth a total of $16.2 million. At the moment, ETH is changing hands at $2,778.

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