Key Takeaways
- Daily active addresses on Ethereum reached approximately 2 million in February 2026, exceeding 2021 bull run levels
- Despite increased usage, ETH has declined roughly 30% in the last six months
- In 30-day transaction fees, Ethereum places third, trailing both Tron and Solana
- Layer-2 solutions like Base generate more protocol revenue than Ethereum’s main chain
- On March 10, Ethereum spot ETFs recorded $12.59 million in net inflows with no outflows from any of the nine funds
Network engagement on Ethereum has reached unprecedented levels. Yet the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) continues to struggle with price performance.
According to a March 10 analysis from blockchain analytics provider CryptoQuant, Ethereum’s daily active addresses approached 2 million during February 2026. This figure exceeded the highs witnessed during the 2021 cryptocurrency boom.
Daily smart contract interactions surpassed 40 million. Token transfer volumes also reached new highs. This activity encompasses decentralized finance applications, stablecoin transactions, and automated protocol interactions.
Despite this, ETH has lost approximately 30% of its value during the past six months. This represents a departure from historical trends where increased blockchain usage typically correlated with price appreciation.
According to CryptoQuant’s assessment, capital movement patterns now serve as better price indicators than usage metrics. Exchange flow analysis reveals ether moving to trading venues more rapidly than bitcoin, suggesting heightened selling activity.
Ethereum’s realized capitalization has also declined on a one-year basis. This indicates more capital exiting the ecosystem than flowing into it.
Fee Revenue Shifting to Competing Platforms
Regarding transaction fees, Ethereum trails its competitors. According to DefiLlama statistics, Ethereum collected approximately $10.3 million in fees during the last 30 days. Tron topped the rankings with nearly $25 million, while Solana secured second position with about $20 million.
In terms of protocol revenue, Ethereum ranked fifth with only $1.22 million. Notably, Base, a Coinbase-developed layer-2 solution operating on Ethereum infrastructure, generated approximately triple the protocol revenue of Ethereum’s main network during the same timeframe.
Layer-2 scaling solutions handle transaction processing and remit minimal settlement fees to Ethereum. This architecture distributes economic value throughout the ecosystem instead of consolidating it on the primary blockchain.
Ethereum maintains roughly $162 billion in stablecoin market capitalization — representing approximately 52% of worldwide supply. However, this leadership position hasn’t driven additional value capture for ETH holders.
Price Projections and Investment Fund Flows
Cryptocurrency forecasting service CoinCodex projects ETH could surpass $3,000 by May 2026. Their machine learning algorithm indicates prices remaining above $2,000 throughout most of the year, with a potential maximum near $3,673.
Achieving that peak from present values would deliver approximately 90% gains. The model forecasts ETH trading around $2,477 by year-end December 2026, representing a projected 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
According to data from March 10, Ethereum spot exchange-traded funds saw combined net inflows totaling $12.59 million. None of the nine available ETFs experienced net outflows that day.
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