Ethereum network resilience progress evident: active addresses exceed 790,000, transaction fees drop to $0.15

On January 14, news came out that as the long-term technical roadmap is gradually implemented, improvements in the Ethereum network’s user activity and usage costs have begun to show results. The on-chain data platform Nansen shows that as of this Monday, the number of active addresses on Ethereum has exceeded 791,000, significantly higher than mainstream Layer 2 networks such as Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism, indicating that the appeal of the Ethereum mainnet is on the rebound.

From a cost perspective, the average daily transaction fee on Ethereum has also dropped to a historic low. Data shows that the current average fee per transaction is about $0.15, compared to $11 a year ago. Overall, the significant optimization of the fee structure is reshaping Ethereum’s practical usability as a general-purpose settlement layer.

Looking back over the past year, the number of active addresses on Ethereum has increased by approximately 71% year-over-year, steadily rising from 460,000. Meanwhile, the network’s daily transaction volume also hit a new high, with 2.1 million transactions in a single day. In comparison, between 2021 and 2022, due to the explosive growth of DeFi and NFTs, Gas fees soared to hundreds of dollars, sparking widespread market doubts about Ethereum’s scalability.

Since then, Ethereum has continuously improved its underlying performance through multiple protocol upgrades. The Pectra upgrade implemented in May 2025 significantly increased Blob capacity and reduced the costs of publishing data on Rollups; the Fusaka upgrade activated in December of the same year further expanded Blob limits and introduced a peer-to-peer data availability sampling mechanism, making the verification process more efficient. Driven by these upgrades, developers’ willingness to deploy contracts on Ethereum has noticeably increased. Token Terminal data shows that in Q4 2025, the number of new smart contracts deployed on Ethereum reached about 8.7 million, setting a new record.

In terms of competition, Ethereum is engaging in direct competition with Layer 1 networks such as Solana, BNB Chain, and Tron. These networks each have advantages in transaction throughput and retail user activity, but Ethereum is consolidating its position through a “settlement layer-first” strategy.

Recently, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also proposed the “exit test” concept, emphasizing that the network should have the ability to operate stably over the long term even if developers no longer maintain it frequently. He pointed out that achieving resistance to quantum attacks, scalable architecture, and a sustainable proof-of-stake model are all goals that Ethereum must gradually realize in the future.

Looking ahead to 2026, the upcoming Glamsterdam fork is expected to introduce more efficient parallel processing mechanisms and significantly increase block capacity. Overall, as upgrades continue, the revival of activity on the Ethereum mainnet is likely to become a long-term trend, and its “bulletproof” roadmap is moving from vision to reality.