Recently, I conducted another routine tracking of the ETH ecosystem, and the only takeaway is that researching the ETH ecosystem is purely a waste of time.
1/ Core on-chain data completely collapsed in Q1 2025 (previously it was just hanging by a thread with Base).
2/ The growth momentum that teachers enjoyed at the beginning of 2024 has completely extinguished. Traditional sectors like DeFi, L2, and NFTs are all barely alive, AI and Memecoins have nothing to do with ETH, and Stablecoins seem to be flat, saving face (in reality, competitors are growing rapidly, and being flat is equivalent to a decline). RWA only has paper TVL with no real activity.
3/ $ETF Staking seems to be a potential benefit, but in reality, it's just the last hope to hold up the price of ETH. Large funds are using USD at a funding cost of 5% to buy your 2% APY Staked ETH. (By the way, this doesn't even account for management and custody fees. Have they lost their minds?)
