Prediction Held up AI assessment confidence: 85% certainty 3/5 debate potential 3/5

Gluchowski: ZK-rollups will maintain a 50x cost reduction ratio over Ethereum mainnet

Alex Gluchowski · Scaling Up Blockchains with Zero-Knowledge Proofs · Nov 8, 2021 · at 29:20

Alex Gluchowski, co-founder of Matter Labs (zkSync), discusses transaction cost scaling for ZK-rollups compared to Ethereum layer 1 gas fees.

0:00 / 0:14exact quote · 15.0s

▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark

“So right now the rollups we have for ZK rollups we have for payments are about 50 times cheaper than native payments on layer one. And I expect that this ratio to remain roughly the same for also for smart contracts.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Matter Labs co-founder Alex Gluchowski claims ZK-rollups are roughly 50 times cheaper than Ethereum mainnet for payments and predicts this 50x cost reduction ratio will also hold for smart contracts.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Alex Gluchowski predicted that the ~50x cost reduction ratio of ZK-rollups compared to Ethereum mainnet would roughly hold for smart contract execution. Public fee data across the evaluation period confirms this benchmark was largely maintained. Prior to Ethereum's Dencun upgrade (EIP-4844) in March 2024, smart contract transactions (e.g., token swaps) on zkSync Era averaged $0.15 to $0.50 compared to $5.00 to $20.00+ on mainnet, representing a 25x to 50x reduction. Following the Dencun upgrade, median smart contract swap fees on major ZK-rollups (zkSync Era, Linea, Starknet) dropped to $0.01–$0.08 against L1 mainnet fees of $0.39–$2.00, yielding a 50x to 100x+ cost reduction ratio. Because the cost reduction ratio for smart contracts consistently averaged around 50x (and higher post-Dencun), the prediction is verified as true.

Pre-Dencun zkSync Era token swap fees ($0.15–$0.50) represented a 25x to 50x cost reduction relative to Ethereum L1 mainnet ($5.00–$20.00+).
Post-Dencun (EIP-4844) median swap fees on ZK-rollups ($0.01–$0.08) achieved a 50x to 100x+ cost reduction compared to Ethereum L1 mainnet ($0.39–$2.00).

Checked against

[1] zeroknowledge.fm [2] oakresearch.io [3] arxiv.org [4] 23stud.io [5] coingecko.com [6] l2fees.info [7] ethereum.org [8] 23stud.io

L2 fees zkSync Era Starknet Ethereum mainnet transaction fee comparison 2024 50x zkSync Era Ethereum mainnet fee reduction smart contract swap Dencun 2024 average swap fee Ethereum mainnet vs zkSync Era 2023 2024 ratio Alex Gluchowski ZK rollups 50 times cheaper smart contracts fees L2Fees Ethereum L2 smart contract swap transaction fees ZK rollups vs mainnet ratio 2024 "l2fees.info" snapshot OR average swap fee zkSync Starknet Ethereum 2024 "zkSync Era" average swap fee vs mainnet 2024 50x "L2Fees" "swap" "Ethereum" zkSync "Starknet" 2024 OR 2023 "smart contract" swap cost "zkSync Era" vs "Ethereum mainnet" ratio 2024

assessed as of 2026-07-28

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

Alex Gluchowski Ethereum ZK rollups

⚑ Spot an error? Report it

Gluchowski: ZK-rollups will maintain a 50x cost reduction ratio over Ethereum mainnet

Turn any episode into a week of clips.