The growth also comes as NFT activity is witnessing a resurgence, mostly on the Ethereum network.
Ethereum user activity reportedly surged in August, reaching levels not seen since the peak levels of 2021. This activity coincided with a resurgence in non-fungible token (NFT) activity to the highest level since 2023.
Ethereum reportedly reached its highest level of monthly active addresses in years — 19.45 million unique addresses in August 2025.
Monthly active addresses measure how many unique wallets interact with the Ethereum blockchain within a given month and capture all kinds of activity in the network, including transfers, DeFi, NFTs, and staking.
According to data from Block.co, there has been a clear upward trend in Ethereum’s user activity over time.
Back in January 2018, Ethereum had 17.49 million active addresses but by May 2021, the number had crossed 20 million. It has endured a steady decline since then and has struggled to reclaim those highs.
This year, the active addresses hit 19.45 million, the closest it has ever come to its 2021 peak.
Analysts claim this growth highlights not only growing interest but also the expansion of the ecosystem with more projects, developers, and users now actively building on Ethereum.
It also indicates robust on-chain usage across on Ethereum’s Layer-1 (L1) and L2 networks, which is proof of increased adoption and utility beyond speculative trading.
Transaction volume only saw a notable uptick last month, suggesting growing engagement with decentralized applications (dApps), decentralized finance (DeFi), and NFTs.
The NFT market has not been the same since the 2021 craze. Since then, trading volumes have dropped, collections lost momentum, and bag holders have become the butt of some witty jokes.
Matas Čepulis, Founder and CEO of LuvKaizen, is one of those who refuse to believe the NFT season will never return or be what it once was. He believes they are still relevant as they tap into powerful emotional and social dynamics. He cited examples of projects like Pudgy Penguins that have grown into big brands as proof that the space is simply evolving, not going away.
According to data from NFTPulse, the number of active NFT users across blockchains has nearly doubled since early summer.
NFTs on Ethereum (ETH) have also seen renewed momentum as they have surpassed Solana in NFT user count since June, a feat that may possibly be linked to Pudgy Penguins’ presence on Abstract, an Ethereum Layer-2.
Data from cryptoslam.io also confirms that ETH NFTs have been increasing in sales since April, peaking last month at $285.6 million with over 1.5 million transactions.
The global NFT market size in 2025 is currently estimated at $49-61 billion, and reports claim Ethereum powers up to 62% of all the NFT transactions.
So are NFTs back? In a way, they never left but the market has matured. Unlike the 2021-2022 NFT craze, which was driven mostly by speculation, the current trend has seen the market favor utility-based NFTs, like those linked with gaming and DeFi, over vibe-based projects with nothing to offer other than hype.
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