In a classic display of recklessness, it took less than thirteen minutes after the launch of Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade for someone to upload the entire Bee Movie script onto the mainnet, all for the low cost of around $14.
Dan Cline, an Ethereum developer, proudly claims to be the first person to upload the full-length script onto the blockchain, taking advantage of the new upgrade that aims to significantly reduce fees on Ethereum layer 2s. Cline shared his achievement on X, stating, “I didn’t get the first blob, but as far as I can tell I DID get the first BEE MOVIE on mainnet.”
Uploading the Bee Movie script has become a running joke within and beyond the crypto community, often resulting in a race to be the first to mint the entire script on new networks and blockchain-related platforms. This trend originated from a broader Bee Movie meme, where enthusiasts would post the script wherever possible on social media.
According to Blobscan data, the script was uploaded at 2:08 pm UTC on March 13, just 13 minutes after the Dencun upgrade went live. The transaction cost a total of $13.88, as reported by Etherscan.
The Dencun upgrade, also known as EIP-4844 or “proto-danksharding,” introduced blobs as a core feature to reduce transaction costs on layer-2 networks significantly. Blobs allow layer 2s to utilize temporary data storage during transaction execution, resulting in lower costs for users.
Although Cline’s Bee Movie script will only exist on the Ethereum network for a few more weeks, as blobs are “pruned” after approximately 18 days, Mason Hall, an engineer and investment partner at crypto venture capital firm a16z, replicated the same feat less than an hour later, spending $5 to execute the upload.
As of now, three Ethereum layer-2 networks, namely Starknet, ZkSync, Optimism, and Base, have implemented blobs on their networks, according to Dune Analytics data. Jesse Pollak, the lead developer at Base, announced on X that integrating blobs on the Base network has resulted in transaction fees dropping from around $0.31 to almost zero.
The Ethereum Beacon Chain has seen over 2,000 blobs posted, with Starknet accounting for 74% of all submissions since the Dencun upgrade was rolled out on the Ethereum mainnet. The Dencun upgrade incorporates eight additional EIPs that aim to enhance various functions on the network, including consensus, execution, and data costs.
These improvements include EIP-1153, which introduces a “transient storage” system to further reduce fees, and EIP-4788, which enhances transparency by storing the root of each Beacon Chain block in a smart contract. Developers anticipate that the data provided by EIP-4788 will be used to develop new features for bridges and staking pools.
The reduction in fees for swaps and transactions on Ethereum layer 2s will only come into effect once the networks start integrating EIP-4844. Currently, swap fees on the largest layer-2 network, Arbitrum, are still around $1.16, while swap fees on Polygon stand at $1.46, according to L2 Fees data.
As the blockchain industry moves forward, the question arises: is measuring blockchain transactions per second (TPS) still relevant in 2024?