Ethereum Raises Blob Limit Again: L2 Fees Low, Will ETH USDT Break $3,700?

Ben Graham · January 7

Vitalik Buterin and Ethereum developers care, above everything else, how the mainnet scales. This mission is super important, and matters. Ethereum, if anything, could have been the home of meme coins was it not for scaling troubles. Solana came over, solved the problem, and now hosts some of the top meme coins with 1000X potential.

Considering what’s lost, Ethereum ETH $3,223.64 0.90% Ethereum ETH Price $3,223.64 0.90% /24h Volume in 24h $21.22B Price 7d Learn more developers are hard at work. This time round, the idea is to reduce the cost of layer-2 transactions though it is near zero after the March 2024 Dencun upgrade.

Roughly a month after Fusaka, a key scaling hard fork on Ethereum, developers raised the network’s blob limit from 15 to 21, a technical change aimed at making layer‑2 transactions cheaper, via the Blob Parameter Only (BPO) fork.

First block at the new 21-blob limit:https://t.co/KqYOdTYRHu pic.twitter.com/TJUYv27TB2

— etherscan.eth (@etherscan) January 7, 2026

For beginners, “blobs” are more like temporary data containers, preventing the need for all data to be permanently etched on the mainnet. The result: Cheap layer-2 transactions.

Following this update, ETH USDT traded near $3,300, holding steady as traders focused on usability rather than price spikes.

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What Did Ethereum Actually Change With the Blob Limit?

By raising the blob limit to 21, Ethereum lets more of these trucks drive per block.

That means rollups, like Base and Optimism, that bundle thousands of transactions together, can move more activity at lower cost. For users, this shows up as cheaper swaps, NFT mints, and game actions.

As of January 6, the average cost of transacting on Base, an Ethereum layer-2 using rollups, stood at just $0.000116 versus $0.3139 registered on January 5 when posting transactions on the mainnet.

(Source: L2Beat)

Overall, since the Dencun upgrade in March 2024, transacting through roll-ups has been more attractive thanks to the irresistibly low fees following this implementation.

With the blob limit increase, it now means more data can be held in the temporary containers, making Ethereum rollups more attractive.

Since Ethereum dominates DeFi, looking at total value locked (TVL), it means more developers will consider deploying stablecoins through its rail, possibly propping up ETH USDT prices. If the ETH price edges higher, it may amplify gains of the next coins to explode.

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Will ETH USDT Break $3,700?

Lower and predictable fees make it easier to build apps for normal people, not just power users. That helps Ethereum compete with faster chains like Solana without sacrificing decentralization.

The more the activity, the higher the demand for ETH, which is used for paying transaction fees.

At spot rates, ETH USDT bulls, like smart meme coin traders, are eyeing December 2025 highs of around $3,450.

(Source: ETH USDT, TradingView)

If the trend of the last two weeks continues, the ETH price could break this barrier, and possibly retest $3,650, a key resistance level and previous support. On X, confidence is high.

$ETH finally had its first red candle after 6 consecutive days.

This was needed, as it has now cleared most late longs.

As long as Ethereum holds above the $3,200 level, the upward momentum will continue. pic.twitter.com/kngK5YUaaU

— Ted (@TedPillows) January 7, 2026

One analyst expects buyers to dominate as long as $3,200 holds.

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