Ethereum’s network activity has reached all-time highs across multiple metrics, but this increase has failed to drive up the price of Ether or boost fee generation at a base level.
A weekly report from analytics firm CryptoQuant published on March 10 found that daily active addresses on Ethereum reached 2 million in February 2026, exceeding the peak seen during the 2021 bull market. Active addresses are unique blockchain wallet addresses that have sent or received transactions within a specific time frame, like the last 24 hours
Smart contract calls, or the code on the blockchain that tells it to do something specific, topped 40 million per day, and token transfers driven by internal contract interactions also set records. The findings point to widespread adoption in DeFi, stablecoins, and automated protocol activity, even as investment demand for Ether has weakened.
Record network user activity is usually a good sign for the market value of the blockchain’s native token. But this is not the case with Ethereum.
Its native token Ether is down nearly 30% over the past six months, and the one-year change in Ethereum’s real capitalization has turned negative, indicating a net capital outflow from the market.
Exchange flow data from CryptoQuant shows that Ether is moving towards trading venues at a faster pace relative to Bitcoin, which is in line with elevated selling pressure.
Focus on capital flows
CryptoQuant argued that capital flows, rather than network activity, now more effectively explains ETH price dynamics.
In previous cycles, particularly in 2018 and 2021, increasing on-chain activity coincided with price rallies. That relationship has become weak. The firm’s scatter analysis showed that recent observations are clustering at high activity levels but relatively low prices, suggesting that incremental usage growth now has less explanatory power for Ether’s valuation.
The fee picture reinforces the disconnect. Data from DeFillama shows that Ethereum has earned about $10.3 million in transaction fees over the past 30 days, ranking third behind Tron with about $25 million and Solana with about $20 million.
Depending on revenue, the difference widens further. Ethereum ranked fifth in 30-day protocol revenue with $1.22 million, trailing Tron as well as Polygon, Base, and Solana. Base, an Ethereum layer-2 network built by Coinbase, generated nearly three times Ethereum’s protocol revenue over the same period.
The disparity reflects the growing role of Ethereum’s layer-2 ecosystem. Networks like Base and Polygon process large volumes of transactions while paying relatively low settlement costs to the base chain, distributing economic activity across the broader Ethereum ecosystem rather than concentrating it on the base layer.
Stablecoins remain a bright spot for adoption. According to DeFillama, Ethereum hosts approximately $162 billion in stablecoin supply, which is approximately 52% of the global market. Yet that activity has not translated into proportional price capture for Ether.
Ethereum may be busier than ever, but the blockchain’s native asset is capturing less of the value created on top of it.