The Writing is on the Wall: Analyzing the Boom of Inscriptions and its Impact on EVM-compatible Blockchains

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the surge of inscription transactions on Ethereum and EVM-compatible blockchains, revealing their dominance in transaction volume and impact on scalability, with notable effects on gas fees and transaction types.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of inscription-related transactions on Ethereum and major rollups, highlighting their prevalence and impact during transaction surges.

Findings

Inscriptions accounted for up to 90% of transactions on some rollups.

Inscriptions mainly involved meme coin minting (99%).

ZKsync Era experienced greater fee reductions than other rollups.

Abstract

This paper examines inscription-related transactions on Ethereum and major EVM-compatible rollups, assessing their impact on scalability during transaction surges. Our results show that, on certain days, inscriptions accounted for nearly 90% of transactions on Arbitrum and ZKsync Era, while 53% on Ethereum, with 99% of these inscriptions involving meme coin minting. Furthermore, we show that ZKsync and Arbitrum saw lower median gas fees during these surges. ZKsync Era, a ZK-rollup, showed a greater fee reduction than the optimistic rollups studied -- Arbitrum, Base, and Optimism.