Avalanche Gas Usage

This analysis is a response to the MetricsDAO bounty question: EVM - 17. Avalanche Gas Fees. This analysis will analyze gas usage from both the perspective of individual contract accounts and dApps in the Avalanche ecosystem. This analysis will also highlight and evaluate specific metrics that directly impact gas usage.

Contract

In my analysis of contract applications, I will first review historical data, citing the overall gas usage and average monthly gas price over the course of 2022. I will then compare this data with the current year from January 2023 to current date (March 2023) to ascertain any immediate differences.

Once complete, I will break down the data into the top 10 gas users by contract using incoming and outgoing gas usage and evaluate these users via specific sub properties like transactions, unique users, gas price, project, and so forth.

dApps

In my analysis of dapps , I will first review historical data, citing the overall dApp gas usage and average monthly gas price over the course of 2022. I will then compare this data with the current year from January 2023 to current date (March 2023) to ascertain any immediate differences.

Once complete, I will break down the data into the top 10 gas users by dApp using both incoming and outgoing gas usage and evaluate these users via specific sub properties like transactions, unique users, gas price, contract type, and so forth.

At the conclusion of my analysis, I will be able to definitively show if there are any particiular properties that more concretely influence gas usage in both contracts and dApps. I will also be able to show which contracts and dApps are using the most gas and theorize as to why based on the project type.

Methodology

Background

Avalanche was launched in September 2020 by Ava Labs, a company founded to "[redefine] the way people create value in web3". It is a full scale ecosystem built with a core, primary network consisting of 3 chains:

Platform Chain (P-Chain): manages subnets, validators, and staking
Contract Chain (C-Chain): manages Ethereum-compatible smart contracts (the focus of this analysis)
Exchange Chain (X-Chain): manages exchanges of asses and cross-subnet transfers

Avalanche makes use of the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism which, put simply, allows validators to stake Avalanche's native token AVAX to process transactions and receive rewards. Avalanche also has a unique makeup that provides builders with the opportunity to create Subnets: custom blockchains that interact with Avalanche's Primary Chain via a shared set of validators.

According to Defi Llama as of 3/29/23, Avalanche has nearly $843 million USD locked into it's ecosystem. It's monthly active user count as of March 2023 is over 373 thousand users.

Further information about Avalanche can be found on their support website at: https://support.avax.network/en/.

Sources

Definitions

Avalanche and Ava Labs

References, Questions, and Analytics

1. Contract

A contract herein is defined as a SMART contract address. A SMART contract is driven by code and triggered by on-chain transactions, which differs from externally owned accounts (which can also be referred to as end users).
For the context of this analysis, multiple contracts make up a dApp, and a dApp is used by end users (EOA).

2. dApp

For the context of this analysis, a dApp is a mechanism by which projects can interact with end users via a web user interface.

3. Gas Usage (Transaction Fees)

The amount of computation used by a transaction (tx) is measure in units of gas paid by AVAX. The equation for gas usage is: (gas consumed) * (gas price) and is measured in Gwei.

4. Gwei (nAVAX)

Short for gigawei; was originally used as a denomination for ether to price gas, but is similarly used in this context for AVAX.
To note: 1 GWEI = .000000001 AVAX

5. USD

United States Dollar. Used for conversion from AVAX to the dollar. The conversion rate used here is the AVAX price taken on 3/23/23 at 17.49 USD.
To note: 1 AVAX = 17.49 USD

Transaction Data & Definitions

Images

Analysis Overview

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Avalanche Gas Usage