Ethereum's Unprecedented Milestone
Ethereum is currently processing more transactions than ever before while costing users less than at any point in the network's recent history. This remarkable achievement highlights the profound impact of recent protocol upgrades and a significant surge in stablecoin adoption.
Transaction Volume Soars to New Heights
The seven-day moving average of transactions on Ethereum is now approaching 2.5 million, a record high that's nearly double its value from one year ago. Transaction activity has experienced a dramatic surge since mid-December, reversing a general slow decline that began in the middle of 2025.
Gas Fees Plummet to Record Lows
Simultaneously, average gas fees have fallen to significant lows. Data shows average transaction costs around $0.15 in gas, the lowest in the network's modern history. Etherscan gas data pegs estimated transaction fees even lower, averaging around $0.04 for a swap on Sunday.
This unusual combination of peak activity and rock-bottom costs marks a turning point for Ethereum, which has long faced criticism for high and unpredictable fees that priced out smaller users during periods of congestion.
The Impact of Protocol Upgrades
The surge in activity comes seven weeks after Ethereum's Fusaka hard fork went live, which introduced PeerDAS (Peer Data Availability Sampling) and kicked off the network's new twice-a-year upgrade schedule. The final Blob Parameters Only fork, deployed January 8, pushed the blob target to 14 and the maximum cap to 21, significantly reducing data costs for Layer 2 rollups.
The collapse in mainnet gas fees reflects a separate but related trend. Ethereum's block gas limit rose from 45 million to 60 million in late November, a 100% increase from the start of 2025. As execution has shifted to Layer 2 networks, demand for mainnet blockspace has eased even as overall activity climbs.
Stablecoin Usage Reaches Record Levels
The activity spike coincides with record stablecoin usage. Standard Chartered recently noted that stablecoin transfers now account for roughly 35% to 40% of all Ethereum transactions, with Global Head of Digital Assets Research Geoffrey Kendrick declaring "2026 will be the year of Ethereum."
Staking Activity Hits New Highs
Staking activity has also reached new highs. Over 36 million ETH is now locked in staking contracts, representing roughly 30% of the circulating supply. The entry queue has swelled to over 2.5 million ETH, its highest level since August 2023, while the exit queue has dropped to near-zero.
Vitalik Buterin's Vision for 2026
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently declared that 2026 will be the year Ethereum's community works to combat the "backsliding" of personal autonomy in crypto, expressing his views on blockchain privacy and user experience in a detailed X post. "Every compromise of values that Ethereum has made up to this point - every moment where you might have been thinking, is it really worth diluting ourselves so much in the name of mainstream adoption - we are making that compromise no longer," Buterin said.
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