Market analysts attribute the surge to regulatory developments like the GENIUS Act passage, multiple ETF approvals bringing traditional market liquidity, and a wave of meme coin trading and token creation on layer-2 networks.
Daily Ethereum transactions inched up to 1.87 million yesterday and are nearing the all-time high of 1.96 million recorded on January 14, 2024, according to Etherscan data.
It’s a positive sign for a network that saw diminished user demand over the last year as competitors like Solana gained market share. In fact, Solana has already seen 22 million transactions today. But for Ethereum mainnet to be nearing 2 million daily transactions means that volume on the network has nearly doubled since the start of the year.
The bulk of activity driving the uptick on Ethereum has come from stablecoins Tether, USDC, and decentralized exchange Uniswap, Jake Kennis, Senior Research Analyst at Nansen, told Decrypt.
“For traders, it is important to monitor transaction counts as a gauge of market activity alongside other on-chain factors such as gas prices, fee generation and others to assess the state of on-chain activity,” he said, referring to the financial activity that occurs natively on blockchain networks.
The bump in stablecoin transactions is likely tied to activity in Washington. Sara Gherghelas, senior analyst and researcher at DappRadar, said the passage and signing of the GENIUS Act, which provides a legal framework for stablecoins operating in the U.S., has boosted market confidence.
“The approval of multiple ETFs is another big factor. This means more liquidity is coming in from traditional markets,” she told Decrypt, “and that’s driving more activity on-chain.”
And analysts have noted that Ethereum ETFs have often been outpacing their Bitcoin counterparts over the past month.
“We’re also seeing a surge in meme coin trading and token creation. Launching a token has never been easier, especially on [layer-2 networks], and that’s led to a wave of speculation and hype,” Gherghelas added. Layer-2 networks, such as Polygon or the Coinbase-incubated Base, are how Ethereum scales to enable higher throughput and meet user demand.
It’s worth noting, though, that Solana has far and away dwarfed Ethereum in terms of meme coin activity.
As of this writing, Ethereum accounts for roughly 10% of meme coin volume, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard. And that’s despite Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko dismissing them as “digital slop.”
But ETH watchers are still optimistic it’ll be a big week for the network. Users on Myriad Markets, a prediction market developed by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, recently changed their minds about how high the volume would go. There’s now 63% of users saying that Ethereum transactions will surpass 12 million this week, which would mean daily transactions have nearly doubled since January 1.
Using Etherscan data, the network has already seen 3.6 million transactions on Monday and Tuesday of this week.
The surge in transactions is certainly bullish for DeFi, the collection of blockchain applications that allow users to transact on-chain without third-party intermediaries. The total value locked has climbed to $137 billion, of which Ethereum accounts for 59%, according to DeFi Llama.
But it’s not clear whether the current pace will be sustainable, Gherghelas cautioned.
“We need to see if this activity holds up in the coming months, especially with some major macroeconomic events expected in early 2026,” she said. “But one thing’s clear: This wave has brought more attention and credibility to the space. If it continues, it could be very positive for sectors like lending.”
