The Ethereum network’s main source of income from layer-2 (L2) scaling chains — “blob fees” — has sunk to the lowest weekly levels so far this year, according to data from Etherscan. 

In the week ending March 30, Ethereum earned only 3.18 Ether (ETH) from blob fees, according to Etherscan, or approximately $6,000 US dollars as of April 1. 

This figure marks a 73% drop from the prior week and a more than 95% decline from the week ending March 16, when Ethereum’s income from blob fees exceeded 84 ETH, Etherscan said in an X post. 

Source: Etherscan

Related: Ethereum fees poised for rebound amid L2, blob uptick

Post-Dencun growing pains

In March 2024, Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade migrated L2 transaction data to temporary offchain stores called “blobs.”

The upgrade cut costs for users but also reduced overall fee revenue for Ethereum — initially by as much as 95%, according to data from asset manager VanEck.

“ETH Fees Were Weak Due to Lack of Blob Revenues as L2s Have Not Filled Available Capacity,” Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital asset research, said in a Nov. 1, 2024, post on the X platform.

Since then, growth in blob fees has been unsteady. Ethereum’s weekly blob fee income peaked at nearly $1 million in November before declining sharply in recent weeks, according to data from Dune Analytics. 

Ethereum’s blob fee income has been uneven. Source: Dune Analytics

Ethereum’s ongoing struggle to earn meaningful income from blob fees underscores concerns about the network’s scaling model, which relies heavily on L2s for transaction throughput.

“Ethereum’s future will revolve around how effectively it serves as a data availability engine for L2s,” arndxt, author of the Threading on the Edge newsletter, said in a March 31 X post. 

According to an X post by Michael Nadeau, founder of The DeFi Report, L2 transaction volumes would need to increase more than 22,000-fold for blob fees to fully offset Ethereum’s peak transaction fee revenues. 

However, Ethereum’s economics are still evolving. For instance, the network’s Pectra Upgrade — which aims to significantly change how Ethereum allocates blob space — is scheduled for this year. 

“The plan is simple: scale Ethereum as much as possible to capture as much marketshare as we can – worry about fee revenue later,” Sassal, founder of The Daily Gwei, said in a March 17 X post. 

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Kristin Smith, CEO of the US-based Blockchain Association, will be leaving the cryptocurrency advocacy group for the recently launched Solana Policy Institute.

In an April 1 notice, the Blockchain Association (BA) said Smith would be stepping down from her role as CEO on May 16. According to the association, the soon-to-be former CEO will become president of the Solana Policy Institute on May 19.

The association’s notice did not provide an apparent reason for the move to the Solana advocacy organization nor say who would lead the group after Smith’s departure. Cointelegraph reached out to the Blockchain Association for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.

Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith’s April 1 announcement. Source: LinkedIn

Smith, who has worked at the BA since 2018 and was deputy chief of staff for former Montana Representative Denny Rehberg, will follow DeFi Education Fund CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine, leaving his position to join the Solana Policy Institute as CEO. According to Whitehouse-Levine, the organization plans to educate US policymakers on Solana.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

APX Lending, a crypto-backed loan company, has gained exemptive relief from the Canadian Securities Administration (CSA) to offer crypto-backed loans without requiring traditional dealer registration or prospectus filings.

“Over the last 2 years, APX developed a […] regulatory framework in collaboration with the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) to facilitate this, as no such framework previously existed in Canada,” a spokesperson for APX told Cointelegraph. “This exemption is specific to APX and does not establish a precedent for other companies.”

The platform currently supports Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) as backing collateral for loans in Canadian or US dollars. APX plans to add more digital assets and fiat currencies options in the near future.

The company claims to be expanding its reach to the United States, with future expansions planned for Australia and New Zealand pending regulatory approval. Andrei Poliakov, founder and CEO of APX Lending, said in a statement:

“By engaging with Canadian regulators and leading the way in Canada, we are setting a new benchmark for compliance and security in crypto-backed lending, helping retail and institutional borrowers unlock liquidity while maintaining ownership of their digital assets.”

APX loans range from 20%-60% loan-to-value (LTV), with an automated liquidation mechanism triggered at 90% if no corrective action is taken by the borrower to top up collateral or partially repay the loan when LTV reaches the 80% warning level and they are notified of the potential liquidation.

Loan terms range from three months to five years, reflecting the comparatively flexible structure of crypto-backed lending versus the more rigid and often less accessible options found in traditional financial systems.

APX Lending is registered with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC). Its key competitors in the local market include Ledn, Nexo, and YouHodler, among others.

APX Lending founder and CEO Andrei Poliakov onstage at the Blockchain Futurist Conference in 2024. Source: Blockchain Futurist Conference

Related: What Canada’s new Liberal PM Mark Carney means for crypto

Canada’s shifting political landscape could spell trouble for crypto regulations

Recently elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is a former central banker who once criticized Bitcoin for being supply-capped, calling the 21 million maximum supply a “serious deficiency.”

In a speech to the Scottish Economics Conference at Edinburgh University in March 2018, Carney said: “Recreating a virtual global gold standard would be a criminal act of monetary amnesia.”

Carney’s critical view of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies may influence the direction of regulation in Canada and raise uncertainty about the future of the country’s crypto industry.

However, Carney’s 2025 platform outlined goals to make Canada a global leader in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and “digital industries” amid increasing geopolitical competition and trade tensions with the United States.

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