Who Posts Empty Blobs?
Question
Who is posting empty blobs (blobs containing zero data) to Ethereum mainnet?
Background
An empty blob is a blob transaction where the blob data is entirely zeroes. These blobs have a distinctive KZG commitment: the BLS12-381 G1 point at infinity (0xc00000...0000), which produces the versioned hash 0x010657f37554c781402a22917dee2f75def7ab966d7b770905398eba3c444014.
While blob transactions are designed to carry rollup data, nothing prevents submitting blobs with empty content. This raises questions: who is doing this, why, and does it matter?
Investigation
Who Posts Empty Blobs
View Query: empty_blobs_by_entity
Aztec is the dominant source of empty blobs, responsible for ~71% of all empty blob submissions across 135 distinct addresses. Each Aztec transaction contains exactly 1 empty blob, and 100% of Aztec's blob transactions are empty. The remaining ~29% come from unknown addresses.
How Many Per Day
View Query: empty_blobs_daily
Empty blobs represent a consistent 4-5% of all blobs on mainnet, with approximately 1,400-1,500 empty blobs posted daily.
Daily Breakdown by Entity
View Query: empty_blobs_daily_by_entity
Aztec consistently posts ~1,000 empty blobs per day, while unknown addresses contribute a steady ~400 per day.
Top Addresses
View Query: empty_blobs_top_addresses
Aztec uses a large number of rotating addresses to submit empty blobs. The top two addresses each posted ~1,300 empty blobs over the week. Several addresses in the top 15 are labeled as "Unknown" – these may also be related to Aztec or other ZK rollup protocols.
Takeaways
- Aztec is the primary source of empty blobs, posting ~1,000/day across 135 addresses, accounting for ~71% of all empty blob submissions
- Every Aztec blob transaction contains exactly 1 empty blob (the BLS12-381 G1 point-at-infinity commitment) – the reason is unknown
- Empty blobs represent 4-5% of all blobs on mainnet, a non-trivial share of blob space