EIP-4844

What is EIP-4844?

EIP-4844, also known as Proto-Danksharding, is an Ethereum Improvement Proposal that introduced a new transaction type for posting large data blobs to the network. Activated in the Dencun upgrade (March 2024), EIP-4844 dramatically reduced the cost of data availability for Layer 2 rollups while laying the groundwork for full danksharding.

The proposal was named after its lead authors: Vitalik Buterin, Dankrad Feist, Diederik Loerakker, George Kadianakis, Matt Garnett, Mofi Taiwo, and Ansgar Dietrichs. "Proto-Danksharding" refers to it being a precursor to full Danksharding.

How it Works

EIP-4844 introduced several key technical components:

• Type 3 transactions carrying blob data
• Blobs are 128 KB each, up to 6 per block
• Separate blob gas fee market with dynamic pricing

• Polynomial commitment scheme for blob data
• Enables future data availability sampling
• Trusted setup ceremony generated the parameters

• Targets 3 blobs per block average
• Uses EIP-1559-style base fee adjustment
• Blob fees independent from execution gas

• Blobs stored by consensus clients for ~18 days
• Sufficient time for fraud proofs and verification
• Execution clients only see commitments, not full data

• New POINTEVALUATIONPRECOMPILE for verifying KZG proofs
• Enables efficient verification of blob data portions

Practical Example

Before EIP-4844, posting 100 KB of rollup data cost approximately 1.6 million gas (~$50 at typical prices). After EIP-4844, the same data costs roughly 100,000 blob gas units (~$0.50-5 depending on blob demand). This ~90%+ cost reduction flows directly to Layer 2 users. When you execute a trade on zkSync or Arbitrum, the dramatically lower data costs mean your transaction fees are a fraction of what they were pre-4844.

Why it Matters

EIP-4844 is considered one of the most significant Ethereum upgrades for scalability:

• Layer 2 fees reduced 10-100x in many cases
• More sustainable economics for rollup operators
• Enables new cost-sensitive use cases on L2

• KZG commitments enable data availability sampling
• Blob format compatible with full danksharding
• Infrastructure for 10-100x additional scaling

• Accelerated L2 adoption across Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, zkSync
• Made L2s competitive with alternative L1s on cost
• Established rollup-centric roadmap as primary scaling path

EIP-4844 validates Ethereum's modular scaling thesis: the base layer provides security and data availability while rollups handle execution.