Ethereum Network Sees Surge in New Users and Transactions

According to Cointelegraph, the Ethereum network has experienced a significant increase in new users, with 'activity retention' nearly doubling over the past month, as reported by crypto on-chain analytics platform Glassnode. This surge indicates a notable influx of new wallets engaging with the Ethereum network, rather than activity being driven solely by existing participants. The number of new network addresses has risen from just over 4 million to approximately 8 million this month. Activity retention measures how many users continue to be active over time, essentially showing whether users stick around and continue using the network, rather than showing up once and disappearing. The number of active addresses on the Ethereum network has more than doubled over the last year, increasing from around 410,000 accounts recorded this time last year to over 1 million on January 15, according to Etherscan. Meanwhile, daily transactions on Ethereum have spiked to an all-time high of 2.8 million, marking an increase of 125% since the same time last year. This surge in transactions is attributed to an explosion of stablecoin usage on Ethereum while fees are collapsing. The macroeconomics outlet Milk Road reported that this is the result of Ethereum pushing execution to Layer 2 solutions while keeping settlement secure on Layer 1, showcasing scalable financial infrastructure. Confidence and sentiment around Ethereum are improving, with Justin d'Anethan, head of research at Arctic Digital, expressing optimism about Ethereum's future. He noted that indicators pushed into oversold territory have turned up, hinting at higher prices fueled by renewed capital inflows into ETFs, stablecoins, and native crypto protocols. Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, observed that Ethereum’s network activity has surged as daily transactions climb past 2 million, while staking has reached nearly 36 million ETH. These strong on-chain fundamentals, combined with sustained ETF inflows and growing ecosystem optimism, position ETH for a potential breakout above current resistance levels in the near term as liquidity tightens amid heightened institutional participation with recent scaling upgrades boosting speed and lowering gas fees. All of this heightened network activity and sentiment should be bullish for the blockchain’s token. MN Fund founder Michaël van de Poppe noted that there is a lot of compression taking place with ETH, which is likely to break out in the coming week. Ether (ETH) prices reached a two-month high of $3,400 on Wednesday but had retreated slightly to trade around $3,300 during early trading on Friday morning.