Today, Polygon zkEVM Mainnet Beta introduced a new effectiveGasPrice mechanism, delivering more accurate and comprehensive transaction fees for users. This upgrade significantly improves fee calculation by considering both execution costs and data availability expenses.
How Transaction Fees Work in Rollups
When users send transactions on a rollup like Polygon zkEVM, they pay fees covering:
- L2 Network Resources: Execution costs on the Polygon zkEVM network
- L1 Network Resources: Data availability costs on Ethereum (calldata)
👉 Learn more about Polygon zkEVM's architecture
In Ethereum-based rollups, data availability typically accounts for about 80% of transaction fees. Prior to effectiveGasPrice, fee calculation used a simpler formula that didn't adequately account for variations in transaction types.
The "Quixote" Transaction Problem
The Polygon Hermez team identified an optimization challenge with certain transactions:
- High calldata usage (expensive L1 resources)
- Minimal execution (cheap L2 resources)
These were nicknamed "Quixote" transactions after the literary character who expended great effort for little result. The old fee structure made these transactions disproportionately cheap for users while being costly for the network.
Effective Gas Price Explained
The new formula calculates fees as:
L1 gas price × (L2 gas price reduction factor)Key improvements include:
- More accurate representation of actual resource usage
- Fairer pricing across different transaction types
- Better alignment between user costs and network expenses
👉 Understanding rollup economics
Practical Impact on Users
- DeFi transactions: Generally see lower final fees
- Data-heavy transactions: More accurately priced
- Overall: Fees better reflect true network costs
For technical details, refer to the effectiveGasPrice documentation.
Future Fee Optimizations
Polygon zkEVM has several upcoming improvements:
- EIP-4844 implementation (expected with Cancun hard fork)
- Data compression enhancements
- Continued L1/L2 cost reductions
Developers can verify the fee calculation algorithm using these test vectors:
FAQs
Q: How does effectiveGasPrice benefit regular users?
A: It creates fairer pricing where simpler transactions pay less while complex ones pay appropriately more.
Q: Will my existing transactions cost more?
A: Most DeFi transactions will see lower fees, while data-heavy operations will increase slightly to reflect true costs.
Q: Where can I track future Polygon zkEVM updates?
A: Follow the official Polygon blog and social channels.
Q: How can developers test the new fee structure?
A: Use the provided test vectors and documentation links to verify calculations.
Q: When will EIP-4844 be implemented?
A: Expected with Ethereum's Cancun hard fork, though exact timing depends on Ethereum's roadmap.
Q: What's the long-term vision for Polygon zkEVM fees?