Avail Innovation: Ethereum can achieve high throughput chains through multiple L2 expansions.

Author: Vince Quill, CoinTelegraph; Translated by: Wu Zhu, Golden Finance

Anurag Arjun, co-founder of the unified chain abstraction solution Avail, stated that Ethereum focuses on scaling through multiple Layer 2 networks, each with its own transaction processing speed and parameters, which could lead to an unlimited number of unique high-throughput chains for the network.

In an interview, Arjun admitted that Ethereum and high-throughput competitors that adopt a monolithic architecture are fundamentally different products. However, Ethereum's choice to scale through a multitude of L2 solutions gives it an overlooked quality:

"The often overlooked advantage of this summary-centered roadmap architecture is that it allows multiple teams to experiment with different execution environments and different block times."

The executive added that this has enabled the emergence of various high-throughput sidechains, rather than just a single architecture on any one Layer 1. However, Arjun warned that without true interoperability, switching between L2s will still be as complex as bridging assets between different blockchain ecosystems.

Overview of Ethereum Layer 2 Ecosystem. Source: L2Beat

The views of Avail's co-founder contrast with those of many critics of Ethereum's L2 centralized approach, who believe that the network's scaling solutions will isolate liquidity and ultimately erode the base layer. Critics of Ethereum argue that L2 is one of the main reasons for Ethereum's poor price performance last year.

Ethereum fees drop to the lowest level in five years

In April 2025, the fees on the Ethereum Layer 1 network dropped to the lowest point in five years, with an average transaction fee of about $0.16.

Brian Quinlivan, the marketing director of Santiment, stated that the decrease in fees indicates a decline in demand for the underlying layer and a weakening interest from investors in Ethereum.

In the first quarter of 2025, the daily transaction fees on the Ethereum network saw a significant decrease. Source: Token Terminal

Quinlivan wrote in a blog post on April 16: "The significant reduction in fees coincides with a decrease in the number of people sending ETH and interacting with smart contracts."

Santiment executives added that these smart contract interactions include transactions across decentralized finance, non-fungible tokens (NFT) and other digital collectibles, as well as other areas of digital assets.

The decline in transaction fees on the Ethereum base layer and the reduction in retail interest have also led many institutional investors to significantly cut their Ethereum allocations and revise their price expectations for the second-largest digital asset by market capitalization.