The developer community continues to drive an L1’s long-term potential.
Despite the speculative nature of assets, there is an ongoing transition towards infrastructure-level development – One which positions L1s to compete in the growing Web3 space, where “centralization” remains a key factor.
As far as Ethereum [ETH] is concerned, it appears to be focusing on this area too. According to Token Terminal, the number of smart contracts deployed on Ethereum in Q4 of this year has reached an all-time high of 8.7 million.
Put simply, Ethereum is seeing more apps built directly on its blockchain.
For instance, Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is a solid case. Notably, this new DeFi lending and borrowing protocol built on Ethereum is now moving into stage two of its roadmap, with 18.5k investors already on board.
Interestingly, all this on-chain growth is happening while ETH has fallen about 25% in Q4, breaking the $3k-level. Naturally, this contrast raises the question – Could Ethereum be undervalued despite strong fundamentals?
Unlike traditional stocks, blockchains don’t have earnings reports.
So, what you’re really looking at is network adoption to see if confidence in an L1 is holding up, even when the price is volatile. So, when fundamentals are strong but the price dips, it often alludes to a solid undervaluation “dip.”
That’s where Ethereum’s dev activity comes in. By building more on the network, devs are clearly aiming to expand real-world utility, as seen with Ferrari now accepting Ethereum payments across the U.S and Europe.
According to AMBCrypto, this also creates a clear divergence.
Unlike rallies fueled by speculation, leverage, or FUD, a strong utility narrative encourages long-term HODLing. You can see this in Ethereum’s falling reserves, down from 20 million at the start of the year to 16 million.
Consequently, this setup also suggests that Ethereum may be “undervalued.”
In practical terms, this means that the current market price doesn’t fully reflect the network’s actual adoption, and utility. Meanwhile, falling prices keep ETH’s revenue numbers low, even as developers continue building.
From a sentiment perspective, this trend clearly reinforces long-term HODLing as LTHs are keeping their ETH off exchanges. It also highlights a stronger underlying value in Ethereum.
