Datafloq News March 3, 2025
Collected at: https://datafloq.com/read/how-cross-chain-dapps-handle-gas-optimization/
Cross-chain DApps solve the problem of operating across multiple blockchains but face challenges with gas fees. Here’s a quick breakdown of how they optimize gas costs:
- Gas Fee Challenges: Users often pay fees on multiple networks, increasing costs. Fees include source chain, destination chain, and message relay costs.
- Optimization Strategies:
- Smart Contract Efficiency: Reduce storage operations, use smaller data types, and optimize functions to lower costs.
- Transaction Bundling: Combine multiple operations into one transaction to save fees.
- Gas Tokens & Relay Systems: Use gas tokens and split operations across cost-efficient networks.
- Layer 2 Solutions: Move transactions off-chain to reduce fees by up to 95%.
- Layer 2 Networks:
Quick Comparison of Layer 2 Solutions
| Solution | Speed Improvement | Gas Cost Reduction | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arbitrum | 10x faster | Up to 95% | Handles 4,000 TPS |
| Optimism | 26x faster | Up to 90% | Fraud-proof mechanism |
| Polygon | Over 65,000 TPS | N/A | Highly scalable |
| Base | 2,000 TPS | Up to 95% | OP Stack integration |
These strategies help developers reduce costs while maintaining performance and security.
Layer 2 Scaling Solutions Explained
Gas Fees in Cross-Chain Operations
Gas fees play a crucial role in blockchain transactions, compensating validators for maintaining and securing the network. Each blockchain has its own fee model and terminology, making cross-chain operations particularly complex.
How Gas Fees Are Calculated
On Ethereum, gas fees are calculated using this formula:
Total Gas Fee = Gas Limit (Base Fee + Priority Fee)
- The base fee adjusts based on network demand.
- The priority fee (or tip) incentivizes faster transaction processing .
Other blockchains, like Solana and Bitcoin, use simpler models for transaction fees.
For cross-chain transactions, the fee structure becomes more layered, involving three main components:
| Fee Component | Description | Payment Method |
|---|---|---|
| Source Chain Cost | Fee for the initial transaction | Paid in the native token of the source chain |
| Destination Chain Cost | Execution fee on the target chain | Calculated in the source token based on the exchange rate |
| Transmitter Fee | Compensation for message delivery | Fixed fee in the source token |
Here’s an example from the Entangle protocol:
- Source chain cost: 0.01 BNB
- Destination chain cost: 0.00075 BNB (converted from 0.005 ETH at 100 Gwei)
- Transmitter fee: 0.001 BNB
- Total cost: 0.01175 BNB
This breakdown shows how cross-chain transactions involve multiple costs, making fee estimation more challenging.
Challenges with Cross-Chain Gas Fees
Cross-chain transactions often face unique obstacles, even with a clear fee structure. One common issue is insufficient gas on the target chain, which can cause transaction failures . To avoid this, networks often charge fees based on worst-case scenarios, leading to overpayment in many cases.
“Gas fee is a commonly used term for the cost that certain blockchain protocol users pay to network validators each time they wish to perform a function on the blockchain.” – Kraken Learn team
Some solutions aim to improve accuracy. For instance, Analog GMP uses a formula for Ethereum calldata costs:
Base Gas (21,000) + (16 non_zero_bytes) + (4 zero_bytes)
This approach helps refine gas fee estimates, reducing the likelihood of overpayment .
Gas Cost Reduction Methods
Lowering gas costs in cross-chain DApps often comes down to two key strategies: optimizing smart contracts and bundling transactions. These approaches help cut fees while maintaining performance.
Smart Contract Cost Reduction
Valentine Blaze’s research on Asset Chain highlights several ways to make smart contracts more efficient. These include reducing storage operations, using smaller data types, improving function visibility, and leveraging constants or immutables. An optimized token contract deployed in October 2024 demonstrated these cost savings in action.
“Efficient smart contracts minimize gas consumption, reducing the overall cost of transactions and operations for users.” – Valentine Blaze
Transaction Bundling
Bundling transactions is another effective way to lower costs. It works by combining multiple operations into a single transaction. For example, deBridge‘s use of Gnosis Safe‘s Multisend library simplifies cross-chain processes . In one case, deBridge partnered with Aave to bundle token approvals, cross-chain swaps, asset claims, and deposits into one transaction, cutting down on fees from separate operations.
Gas Tokens and Relay Systems
Gas tokens and relay systems also play a role in reducing costs. Relay protocol achieves significant savings – up to 80% for transfers under $1,000 – by splitting asset transfers, order validation, and fee collection across cost-efficient networks .
To make the most of gas tokens:
- Mint tokens when gas prices are low.
- Save tokens for times when fees spike.
- Aim for an efficiency ratio of at least 1.5.
- Look for gas price differences in the 3’4 range for maximum savings .
These strategies, when combined thoughtfully, can make cross-chain transactions more affordable. Additionally, Layer 2 solutions offer even greater savings by moving transactions off-chain, further reducing fees.
Layer 2 Solutions for Lower Fees
Layer 2 solutions help cut transaction costs while maintaining the security of Layer 1 blockchains. These approaches complement earlier methods like smart contract optimization and transaction bundling.
Layer 2 Basics
Layer 2 networks are secondary protocols built on top of blockchains. They’re designed to speed up transactions and reduce fees, making them a great fit for cross-chain DApps. Here’s a quick comparison of some popular Layer 2 solutions:
| Solution Type | Speed Improvement | Gas Cost Reduction | Key Feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arbitrum | 10x faster | Up to 95% | Handles 4,000 TPS |
| Optimism | 26x faster | Up to 90% | Fraud-proof mechanism |
| Polygon | Over 65,000 TPS | N/A | Highly scalable |
| Base | 2,000 TPS | Up to 95% | OP Stack integration |
These benefits make Layer 2 solutions a solid choice for improving cost and performance in blockchain operations. Off-chain processing adds even more efficiency to the mix.
Off-Chain Processing Methods
Off-chain processing takes gas optimization a step further. By January 2024, the total value locked (TVL) in Layer 2 networks hit $16 billion . For example, Manta Network, the third-largest Ethereum Layer 2 by TVL , processes 4,000 transactions per second while cutting mainnet fees.
Layer 2 solutions typically fall into two categories:
- Optimistic Rollups: These validate transactions after a challenge period. They’ve achieved $5.5 billion in TVL and reduce gas fees by 90% .
- zk-Rollups: These use zero-knowledge proofs for validation. Coti, for instance, can handle up to 100,000 TPS .
“One of the inevitable consequences of this is that we are seeing a trend of layer 2 projects becoming more heterogeneous. I expect this trend to continue…” – Vitalik Buterin, Co-founder of Ethereum
For developers, choosing the right Layer 2 solution depends on specific needs. Arbitrum, holding 51% of the Ethereum Layer 2 market share , demonstrates a strong balance between lower gas costs and high performance.
Conclusion
Optimizing gas usage in cross-chain DApps involves a careful mix of techniques. By combining Layer 2 solutions with smart contract improvements, developers can lower transaction costs without sacrificing security. These methods build on the strategies outlined earlier.
Developer Guidelines
To reduce gas costs, developers can implement multi-layer strategies that have shown success:
| Optimization Level | Implementation Example | Results |
|---|---|---|
| Smart Contract | Aavegotchi‘s batch processing | Combined multiple transaction fees into one |
| Protocol Layer | QuickSwap‘s state change reduction | Reduced gas usage on the Polygon network |
| Cross-chain Integration | Curve Finance‘s Polygon implementation | Boosted liquidity and user engagement |
When writing gas-efficient smart contracts, developers should focus on:
- Using external functions instead of public ones for better cost efficiency .
- Opting for fixed-size variables rather than dynamic ones to save gas.
- Leveraging mappings for faster data access in large datasets.
- Compressing data to minimize on-chain storage.
- Deploying branchless algorithms to ensure consistent gas costs .
Next Steps in Gas Optimization
Looking ahead, developers can explore new ways to optimize gas usage:
- Introduce gas fee abstraction, allowing users to pay fees in native tokens .
- Use real-time, automated tools to check for efficiency improvements .
- Stay informed about regulatory changes to maintain compliance while optimizing performance .
- Experiment with emerging Layer 2 technologies and incorporate eco-friendly practices into optimization efforts .
As the blockchain ecosystem evolves, flexibility will be essential to keep up with these changes.
“One of the inevitable consequences of this is that we are seeing a trend of layer 2 projects becoming more heterogeneous. I expect this trend to continue…” – Vitalik Buterin, Co-founder of Ethereum
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