Ethereum (ETH), the biggest altcoin, is struggling to hold on to its dominance in the digital assets market, and its fee drop to a five-year low reflects that. In the meantime, Solana appears to be benefiting in this race as Ether is printing red indexes all the way around.

DeFiLlama data shows that Ether’s total value locked (DeFi) dropped by more than 3% in the last 7 days and 8% over the past 30 days. It stands at $46.85 billion. On the other hand, Solana is gaining more ground in the DeFi sector. Its TVL has surged by 4.4% in 7 days and marginally over the past 30 days to stand at $7.07 billion.

ETH gas fees hit a 5-year low

As per the data shared by Santiment, Ether fees dropped to $0.168 per transaction to hit 5-year lows. This large reduction in fees signals that fewer people are sending ETH and interacting with smart contracts. However, it fluctuates based on network congestion.

When many users use Ethereum, eventually users bid higher fees to get their transactions confirmed faster, which pushes the average costs up. When there are fewer people transacting on-chain, then users don’t need to bid as much and fees drop. Ethereum is witnessing the second scenario right now. The report advises that developers and users who are still building or even testing apps on the Ethereum network could use this time to get cost-effective value.

Ether price is down 61% over the past four months. It surged by around 2% in the last 24 hours. It is trading at an average price of $1,596 as of press time. Its 24-hour trading volume is up by 2% to stand at $13.6 billion. Data shared by Ali shows that whales have offloaded 143,000 Ether over the past week. He suggests that $1,528.50 is a key support level for Ether, and this is the place where 2.61 million addresses accumulated over 4.82 million ETH.

ETH’s $0.02 gas fees isn’t sparking joy 

As the economic uncertainty looms large, traders are clutching their stablecoins while staying cautious. But here’s the kicker, low fees often sneak in right before the big moves. Data shows that the average gas fees over the Ethereum chain stand at 0.335 gwei, which is approximately $0.02.

Fees level dropping under $1 suggests that the crowd has become disinterested.

The report mentioned that Ethereum has been largely written off by the crowd, while several traders have given it a meme status. On the other hand, cryptos like XRP and Cardano are bagging rallies over the past year. Ripple’s XRP price is marginally up on year to date basis, while ETH has shed its price by 52%. XRP is trading at an average price of $2.09 as of press time.

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