Ethereum gas price hits annual low

On 8 October, the median gas price on the Ethereum network fell to 6.8 Gwei — the lowest reading of 2023. Similar readings were recorded roughly 12 months earlier, according to the dashboard on Dune.

As of writing, the metric had edged up slightly to 8.2 Gwei.

The decline comes as the TVL in the DeFi sector, NFT trading, and the activity of Telegram bots declines.

According to the dashboard on Dune, weekly NFT trading volume fell to year-to-date lows around $44.5 million.

As of 12 October, the value of assets locked in the Ethereum ecosystem stood at $19.8 billion (DeFi Llama). The figure is in line with December 2022 levels and about 37% below the April high of $31.5 billion.

In early September the cryptocurrency became inflationary amid a fall in fees. According to Ultra Sound Money, over the last 30 days the circulating supply of the coin increased by 31,940 ETH.

The annual inflation over the period stood at 0.32%.

Earlier, Jeffrey Kendrick, head of research at Standard Chartered, forecast Ethereum’s price to rise to $8,000 by the end of 2026.

However, K33 Research analysts concluded that traders still prefer Bitcoin.