Average gas prices have cratered to around 0.5 gwei in early 2026, with some periods dipping as low as 0.15 gwei. The Dencun upgrade, which rolled out in 2024, dramatically reduced the cost of posting data from Layer 2 networks back to mainnet. Stablecoins are heading for the exitsUSDT recorded more than $7 billion in net outflows on Ethereum during Q1 2026. In April 2026, stablecoin transfer volume on the network plunged 42.6% in a single week, even as raw transaction counts surged 41% over the same period. The deeper structural question is whether Ethereum’s Layer 2 strategy is creating a value-leak problem.