Increased User Engagement on Ethereum
Activity retention on the Ethereum network has nearly doubled over the past month, jumping from just over 4 million to around 8 million addresses in January. Crypto on-chain analytics platform Glassnode reported Thursday that month-over-month activity retention shows a sharp spike in the new cohort.
The increase indicates a surge in first-time interacting addresses over the past 30 days, reflecting a notable influx of new wallets engaging with the Ethereum network. Glassnode stated this activity is driven by new participants rather than existing users alone.
Record Transactions and Growing Active Addresses
Daily transactions on Ethereum spiked to an all-time high of 2.8 million on Thursday, marking a 125% increase since the same time last year. The number of active addresses on the network has more than doubled from around 410,000 accounts recorded this time last year to over 1 million on Jan. 15.
Activity retention measures how many users continue to be active over time, showing whether users stick around and continue using the network rather than disappearing after one interaction. Justin d'Anethan, head of research at Arctic Digital, stated there's a lot to be optimistic about when looking at Ethereum.
Stablecoin Usage and Scalability
Macroeconomics outlet Milk Road reported Thursday that the transaction spike resulted from an explosion of stablecoin usage on Ethereum while fees are collapsing. The outlet stated that this demonstrates what scalable financial infrastructure looks like, with Ethereum pushing execution to L2s while keeping settlement secure on L1.
Near-term indicators that have been pushed into oversold territory have turned up and seem to hint at much higher prices, fueled by renewed capital inflows into ETFs, stablecoins, and native crypto protocols, d'Anethan added. Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, observed that Ethereum's network activity has surged as daily transactions climb past 2 million while staking has reached nearly 36 million Ethereum.
Price Performance and Future Outlook
Ether prices tapped a two-month high of $3,400 on Wednesday but retreated slightly to trade around $3,300 during early trading Friday morning. The heightened network activity and sentiment should prove bullish for the blockchain's token in coming weeks.
Strong on-chain fundamentals combined with sustained ETF inflows and growing ecosystem optimism position Ethereum for a potential breakout above current resistance levels in the near term, Ruck stated. Recent scaling upgrades boosting speed and lowering gas fees have contributed to heightened institutional participation.
MN Fund founder Michaël van de Poppe said Thursday there's a lot of compression taking place with Ethereum that's likely to break out in the coming week.