Key Highlights
- Daily active addresses on Ethereum reached approximately 2 million during February 2026, exceeding previous records from the 2021 market peak
- ETH has declined roughly 30% across the previous six-month period while network usage surges
- Transaction fee rankings place Ethereum in third position for 30-day totals, with Tron and Solana ahead
- Base and other layer-2 solutions generate higher revenue compared to Ethereum’s main chain
- March 10 saw Ethereum spot ETFs record $12.59 million in net inflows, with all nine funds showing zero outflows
The Ethereum blockchain currently experiences unprecedented levels of user activity. Yet the value of ether (ETH) continues to decline.
Analytics platform CryptoQuant released a report on March 10 revealing that Ethereum’s daily active addresses approached 2 million during February 2026. This figure exceeded the highest points recorded during the 2021 market cycle.
Daily smart contract calls surpassed 40 million. Token transfers simultaneously reached new heights. This activity encompasses DeFi applications, stablecoin transactions, and automated protocol interactions.
Despite these metrics, ETH has experienced approximately 30% depreciation over six months. This represents a departure from historical trends where increased on-chain activity typically correlated with price appreciation.
According to CryptoQuant’s analysis, capital movement patterns now serve as stronger indicators of ETH’s price trajectory compared to network usage metrics. Exchange flow analysis reveals ether arriving at trading venues at accelerated rates relative to bitcoin, indicating potential selling momentum.
The yearly change in Ethereum’s realized capitalization has shifted into negative territory. This metric suggests capital withdrawal exceeds new capital entering the ecosystem.
Fee Revenue Shifts to Competing Networks
Ethereum faces growing competition in fee generation. DefiLlama data indicates Ethereum accumulated approximately $10.3 million in transaction fees during the most recent 30-day window. Tron captured the top position with close to $25 million, while Solana secured second place with roughly $20 million.
Protocol revenue rankings position Ethereum in fifth place at merely $1.22 million. Base, a layer-2 solution developed by Coinbase utilizing Ethereum’s infrastructure, generated approximately three times the protocol revenue of Ethereum’s primary layer during this timeframe.
Layer-2 networks handle transaction execution and return modest settlement fees to Ethereum’s base layer. This architecture distributes economic value throughout the broader ecosystem while reducing concentration on the main chain.
Ethereum maintains dominance in stablecoin hosting with approximately $162 billion in supply — representing roughly 52% of worldwide market share. This leadership position has yet to drive proportional value accrual to ETH tokens.
Price Projections and ETF Movement
Forecasting platform CoinCodex anticipates ETH may surpass $3,000 during May 2026. The machine learning model indicates prices maintaining above $2,000 throughout most of the year, with a possible peak approaching $3,673.
Achieving that projected high from present valuation levels would deliver approximately 90% gains. The model forecasts ETH reaching around $2,477 by December 2026, representing a potential 28% increase.
The only thing we need right now is for this area to remain a manipulation wick. If we get a strong candle close, our next target is $3K.
After that, a small retrace (what I consider the final entry opportunity), followed by ATH.
The plan is simple.
Everything’s been… https://t.co/f98ioGEdar pic.twitter.com/VV5NjW3cBC— Alien OPS (@alienopstrading) March 10, 2026
March 10 data shows Ethereum spot ETFs accumulated combined net inflows totaling $12.59 million. Zero net outflows occurred across all nine ETF products on that trading day.
