TLDR
Ethereum (ETH) transactions were boosted this week by sharply lower fees following 2025 protocol upgrades and surging stablecoin activity, culminating in a new record of about 2.2 million daily L1 transactions.
- Daily L1 transactions hit about 2.2 million while average fees fell to roughly $0.17%%CKPROTECTED2%% per transaction, a multi?year low (report).
- Coverage credits the Pectra and Fusaka upgrades with higher capacity and lower costs, supporting more on?chain activity (analysis).
- Stablecoin transfer volumes exceeded $8 trillion in Q4, sustaining high transaction throughput this week (update).
Deep Dive
1. Record Throughput and Low Fees
Ethereums mainnet set a new daily record near 2.2 million transactions this week while average fees dropped to about $0.17%%CKPROTECTED3%%, far below peak congestion periods in 2022 (report). Network usage also rose with a seven?day moving average of transactions reaching an all?time high and active/new addresses surging to levels last seen in 2021 (data).
Lower transaction costs can unlock more everyday activity (payments, app interactions) without forcing users off mainnet, supporting sustained throughput.
2. Protocol Upgrades Enabled Capacity
Coverage attributes the recent throughput to the 2025 Pectra and Fusaka upgrades, which improved validator efficiency and raised effective capacity (including higher gas limits and better data handling), reducing fee pressure even as traffic climbed (summary; analysis). The combination of greater per?block capacity and efficiency upgrades allows more transactions to settle on L1 without the fee spikes seen in prior cycles.
If these cost?reductions persist, builders and users can do more on L1 (or settle L2 activity more cheaply), which supports broader utility and developer momentum.
3. Stablecoin and Address Growth Drove Usage
Stablecoin transfer volumes on Ethereum exceeded $8 trillion in Q4, reinforcing transactional demand into early January and helping lift overall network activity this week (update). Address growth also accelerated, with active addresses and new address creation hitting multi?year highs around Dec 31 (data). A concurrent shift in ETH ETFs back to net inflows may have added some institutional tailwind to on?chain activity (flows).
Stablecoins are a core demand driver. Rising address activity plus renewed ETF inflows can keep transactional momentum high, though usage could rotate between L1 and L2 as costs change.
Conclusion
This weeks boost in Ethereum transactions primarily reflects structurally lower fees from recent upgrades combined with strong stablecoin flows and broader address growth. If efficiency improvements persist and stablecoin usage stays elevated, high throughput can continue, with any fee spikes likely shifting activity toward L2s rather than stopping it outright.
CoinsKid.Com