Ethereum fees have fallen to just 7 gwei, worth less than 20 cent, making it one of the lowest level in a year and more similar to 2020 network usage.
An NFT sale on OpenSea is now just 70 cents, while a swap - one of the most resource demanding transaction - is at $1.76 according to Etherscan.
The number of transactions has also fallen to 2020 levels at under one million a day, compared to a peak of 1.9 million in December 2022 following the FTX frenzy.
While Google searches likewise are down to 2020 levels, prior to the last bull run and around the same level as during the last bitcoin halving.
This follows an extended period of very low volatility that has seen almost no price action since March and overall sees the currency traded at around the same level as June last year.
Such period of low volatility is common between the bitcoin halvings, with network activity reducing as there are less opportunities for arbitrage for example.
But at 20 cent per transaction the entire defi space opens up again as taking out collateral in a permissionless manner becomes cheap.
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During the peak in May 2021 for example the cost for a defi swap reached as high as $300, making defi unusable. But now at just $2 for a swap, it is practically free.
The rollout of second layers, holding 2.2 million eth according to L2data, has also contributed to the lowering of onchain fees, with network costs on L2s being even lower by as much as 10x.
The almost free blockchain transactions therefore might continue for even longer this time, opening a window of opportunity for new innovative dapps to gain traction.
On the other hand the ethereum total supply is once again slightly inflationary, at 0.4% for the past week compared to bitcoin's circa 2%.
That may have contributed to a fall in ethereum's ratio as the supply was deflationary for a year, but higher capacity may ultimately lead to greater utility, and thus higher demand.
Making this potentially the pre-bull period when the network is usable once again by ordinary ethereans, and one can play once more with defi, NFTs, on L2s, or whatever new comes along.