The number of daily transactions on Ethereum increased to 1.87 million yesterday, nearing the record of 1.96 million recorded on January 14, 2024, according to data from Etherscan.
This is a positive signal for the network that has seen demand decline over the past year as competitors like Solana gradually captured market share. In fact, Solana recorded up to 22 million transactions just today. However, Ethereum's mainnet nearing 2 million transactions/day indicates that trading volume has nearly doubled since the beginning of the year.
According to Jake Kennis, a senior analyst at Nansen, most of the activity on Ethereum comes from stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and the decentralized exchange Uniswap.
"For traders, tracking the number of transactions is an important indicator of market activity, alongside other on-chain factors such as gas prices, transaction fees, and volume," Kennis commented.
Stablecoin and ETF policies driving on-chain activity
Sara Gherghelas, a senior analyst at DappRadar, noted that the increase in stablecoin transactions is related to policy developments in Washington. The passing and signing of the GENIUS Act - the first legal framework for stablecoins operating in the US - has boosted market confidence.
"The approval of multiple ETFs is also an important factor. This means that capital from the traditional market is flowing into the cryptocurrency market," Gherghelas said, "and that is driving on-chain activity."
Notably, Ethereum ETFs have often outperformed similar Bitcoin products over the past month.
Additionally, the wave of meme coin trading and new token creation is also booming. "Creating tokens has never been easier, especially on layer 2 networks. This has created a wave of speculation and excitement," Gherghelas said. Layer 2 networks like Polygon and Base (backed by Coinbase) help Ethereum scale and meet higher user demand.
However, Solana still far surpasses Ethereum in meme coin activity. According to Dune Analytics' dashboard, Ethereum currently accounts for only about 10% of meme coin trading volume - even though Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko once dismissed them as 'digital trash.'
Confidence in the continued rise this week
Nevertheless, observers remain optimistic that Ethereum will have a breakout week. On the prediction platform Myriad Markets, 63% of users currently believe that Ethereum's total transactions this week will exceed 12 million - nearly double the level at the beginning of the year. Just on Monday and Tuesday this week, the network recorded 3.6 million transactions, according to Etherscan.
The surge in trading activity is a positive signal for DeFi - the area of blockchain applications that allow transactions without intermediaries. The total value locked (TVL) has reached $137 billion, with Ethereum alone accounting for 59%, according to DeFi Llama.
However, Gherghelas warns that this upward trend may not last.
"We need to monitor whether this activity can be sustained in the coming months, especially in light of some important macro events expected to take place early in 2026," she said. "But what is clear is: this wave is attracting a lot of attention and bringing more credibility to the sector. If it continues, it could strongly boost areas like decentralized lending."