A couple of days ago, some friends mentioned that the recent price increase on Ethereum is still quiet on-chain, based on gas fees. At that time, I didn’t think much about it and almost got led astray. Let’s take a look; in fact, the real usage on the Ethereum chain is increasing.
Let's examine the trend of Ethereum transaction counts and the total daily gas usage; this time it serves as an indicator of on-chain real activity. The gas fees are not as high as during previous peak periods due to scalability, for example, a road that used to be two lanes is now five lanes, so there is no congestion, and thus gas fees have naturally decreased. Therefore, the total number of transactions and total gas consumption are better indicators of activity.
First, let’s look at the trend of daily transaction counts. Based on data available for 2025, Ethereum's daily transaction counts show a significant upward trend. The average daily transaction count in 2024 increased from just over 1 million to about 1.1 million, and in the first quarter of 2025, the average daily transaction count grew to around 1.5 to 1.6 million; recently, the transaction volume has become even more active, for instance, exceeding 1.6 million on July 21. Overall, in 2025, the transaction count on Ethereum is expected to grow by about 40-50% compared to 2024. The on-chain transaction volume is not quiet.
Next, let’s take a look at the trend of daily gas usage on Ethereum. The daily gas usage on Ethereum in 2025 also shows a steady upward trend, reflecting an increase in network throughput. From around 10-11 billion gas during the same period in 2024, it has grown to an average of over 13 billion gas in July 2025, an increase of over 35% year-on-year. Although overall gas fees have decreased (due to factors like scalability), the growing trend in daily gas usage indicates an increase in real network demand and usage.
So we need to change the stereotype: this price increase is still quiet on-chain. That is not the case; the truth is that on-chain trading activity is increasing.