Key Takeaways
- Daily active addresses on Ethereum reached approximately 2 million during February 2026, exceeding previous bull market records from 2021
- ETH has declined approximately 30% across the past half-year period while network usage climbed
- Transaction fee rankings place Ethereum third over 30 days, trailing Tron and Solana
- Layer-2 solutions including Base now generate higher revenue than Ethereum’s main chain
- Ethereum spot ETFs registered $12.59 million in net inflows on March 10, with all nine funds showing zero outflows
The Ethereum blockchain continues to process unprecedented transaction volumes. However, ether (ETH) has failed to benefit from this surge in adoption.
Analytics provider CryptoQuant released data on March 10 revealing that Ethereum’s daily active addresses approached 2 million during February 2026. This figure exceeded the previous records established during the 2021 bull cycle.
Daily smart contract interactions surpassed 40 million. Token transfer volumes also reached new heights. Activity encompasses decentralized finance protocols, stablecoin transactions, and automated smart contract executions.
Meanwhile, ETH’s market value has contracted by roughly 30% during the past six-month period. This divergence represents a departure from historical trends where increased blockchain activity typically correlated with upward price momentum.
According to CryptoQuant, capital movement patterns now provide superior explanatory power for ETH price action compared to usage metrics. Exchange flow analytics indicate ether deposits to trading venues are outpacing bitcoin deposits, signaling potential selling pressure.
Ethereum’s realized capitalization change over one year has entered negative territory. This metric indicates capital is exiting the ecosystem at a faster rate than new capital enters.
Fee Revenue Shifts Toward Competitors
Revenue from transaction fees shows Ethereum trailing competitors. DefiLlama data indicates Ethereum collected approximately $10.3 million in fees during the trailing 30-day period. 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 scaling solution developed by Coinbase atop Ethereum infrastructure, generated approximately triple the protocol revenue of Ethereum’s foundational layer during this timeframe.
Layer-2 networks handle transaction processing and remit minimal settlement fees to Ethereum mainnet. This architecture distributes economic value throughout the broader ecosystem instead of consolidating it at the base layer.
Ethereum maintains its position hosting approximately $162 billion in stablecoin market capitalization — representing roughly 52% of total global stablecoin supply. Yet this market leadership has failed to drive corresponding value accrual for ETH tokens.
Price Outlook and ETF Momentum
Forecasting platform CoinCodex projects ETH may surpass $3,000 during May 2026. The platform’s machine learning algorithms anticipate prices remaining above $2,000 throughout most of the year, with potential peaks approaching $3,673.
Achieving that upper target from present levels would deliver approximately 90% returns. December 2026 projections place ETH around $2,477, representing a 28% gain scenario.
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 saw Ethereum spot exchange-traded funds accumulate combined net inflows totaling $12.59 million. Each of the nine available ETFs reported zero net outflows for the trading session.
