Galaxy Research: The vast majority of Bitcoin Layer 2 networks will struggle to survive

ChainCatcher news, Galaxy Research stated in a report that the vast majority of Bitcoin rollups will be unsustainable. Due to transaction fees, Bitcoin rollups require millions of dollars annually to maintain.

Galaxy wrote, "Each individual data publication transaction can occupy up to 400KB (0.4MB) of block space, effectively taking up 10% of an entire block." With multiple rollups expected, data is anticipated to be published every 6 to 8 blocks, which could quickly push the base layer fees to new highs and make small transactions too expensive. Given the competition for block space, only rollups that can generate the most fee revenue and pay block fees will be able to sustain operations.

Galaxy estimates that in a low-fee environment, when the average transaction cost is 10 sat/VB, rollups will incur $460,000 in monthly fees to maintain Bitcoin's security. In a high-fee environment of 50 sat/VB, when Ordinals or tokens minted through Runes or the BRC-20 standard are frequently active, monthly costs could reach $2.3 million.