TechFlow news — Galaxy Research report on August 2 pointed out that Bitcoin faces significant challenges as a data availability (DA) layer. Key points include:
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Block space scarcity: Bitcoin's block size limit is 4MB; ZK-Rollup data posted every 6–8 blocks could consume up to 10% of block space.
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High costs: At transaction fees of 10–50 sat/vByte, the monthly data publishing cost for Rollups would be approximately $460,000 to $2.3 million.
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Economic feasibility: Rollups need to process large volumes of transactions monthly and collect sufficient fees to be profitable. For example, with 20 million monthly transactions, each transaction fee must range from $0.05 to $0.23 to break even.
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Increased competition: The introduction of Rollups will intensify competition for block space, potentially raising transaction fees for all users.
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Alternative solutions: If costs are too high, Rollups may shift to alternative DA layers like Celestia or build L3 solutions.
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Security trade-offs: While using Bitcoin as a DA layer is costly, it offers unparalleled security and decentralization.
The report concludes that only a few Rollup projects can survive on the Bitcoin network and recommends exploring strategies such as collaborating with miners or developing fee estimation engines to improve profitability.
