  On March 13, 2024, Ethereum implemented EIP-4844, designed to enhance its
role as a data availability layer. While this upgrade reduces data posting
costs for rollups, it also raises concerns about its impact on the consensus
layer due to increased propagation sizes. Moreover, the broader effects on the
overall Ethereum ecosystem remain largely unexplored. In this paper, we conduct
an empirical analysis of the impact of EIP-4844 on consensus security, Ethereum
usage, rollup transaction dynamics, and the blob gas fee mechanism. We explore
changes in synchronization times, provide quantitative assessments of rollup
and user behaviors, and deepen the understanding of the blob gas fee mechanism,
highlighting both enhancements and areas of concern post-upgrade.
