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<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Ethereum network\u2019s growth strategy seems to focus first on winning the adoption race and then on generating fees later.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Ethereum\u2019s layer-1 network set all-time highs across every usage metric in Q1 2026, with monthly active users climbing 53.5% quarter-over-quarter to 13.2 million and transaction count reaching 200.4 million, even as ETH\u2019s market cap dropped 30% and fees on the base layer fell nearly 50%.<\/p>\n
But according to Token Terminal\u2019s Q1 2026 Ethereum Report, the divergence between the rising activity and falling revenue is the whole point.<\/p>\n
The report, published on June 17, showed<\/a> the numbers splitting cleanly along two lines. On the usage side, everything went up, including active monthly users, which rose 85.9% year-over-year; transactions, which increased 81.5% YoY to just over 200 million; and throughput, which hit 25.78 transactions per second, an 81.7% jump YoY.<\/p>\n However, on the dollar side, things weren\u2019t so glossy. Ecosystem total value locked averaged $316.2 billion, down 11% from Q4 2025 but still up nearly 23% year-over-year. Meanwhile, base layer transaction fees came in at $39.9 million, an almost 48% fall from the previous quarter and 81.9% below where they were a year ago.<\/p>\n Per Token Terminal, the fee compression had a direct cause, namely the Fusaka upgrade cycle\u2019s second Blob Parameters Only fork (BPO #2) in January, which raised Ethereum\u2019s data capacity and made blockspace cheaper. As a result, the transaction count went up 38% while total fees dropped by almost half in the same period.<\/p>\n Etherealize, the group that\u2019s working to push Ethereum\u2019s capabilities to traditional finance and a contributor to the report, framed it this way:<\/p>\n \u201cEthereum is deliberately scaling the network at the expense of near-term fee capture, betting that cheaper blockspace unlocks far more demand (and eventually network revenue) in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n They are looking ahead to the Glamsterdam upgrade, which is targeting a more than 3x increase in the gas limit in Q3 2026, with Ethereum\u2019s roadmap ultimately guiding toward 10,000 TPS and near-instant finality by 2029.<\/p>\n On Ethereum\u2019s structural position in tokenized assets, the report noted that it had stayed largely intact through the quarter, with the total tokenized asset market cap averaging $203.4 billion, just 0.7% lower than the quarter before. However, it was up 42.9% year-over-year, with stablecoins leading at $178.9 billion, of which Tether\u2019s USDT ($94.1 billion) and Circle\u2019s USDC ($54.5 billion) accounted for the bulk.<\/p>\n Tokenized assets turned out to be the fastest-growing segment, increasing 60% QoQ and 325.9% YoY to $4.7 billion, most of which were represented by tokenized gold, that is, Tether Gold and PAX Gold. Tokenized funds also experienced similar growth rates, rising 5% to 19.4 billion within the period under discussion. Regulated institutional products from BlackRock\u2019s BUIDL, WisdomTree, and Superstate were among the larger holdings, alongside yield-bearing on-chain dollar products from Sky and Ethena.<\/p>\n And out of the top 5 blockchain networks, Ethereum had a share of 71% of the total TVL, worth $316.2 billion, against the $129 billion on Tron, Solana, BNB Chain, and Plasma collectively. It also holds more than 79% of active DeFi loans, nearly 62% of stablecoins, and 73% of tokenized funds, as well as 84% of tokenized commodities.<\/p>\n However, DEX trading volume was the one area where Ethereum did not lead, with BNB Chain processing $162.5 billion against its $134.5 billion, as Solana came third after pulling in $104.9 billion.<\/p>\n Interestingly, none of the activity described above translated into price strength for Ethereum\u2019s native token. For one, the coin\u2019s fully diluted market cap averaged $290 billion in Q1 2026, which was a 30.3% dip QoQ and almost 10% across one year.<\/p>\n At the time of writing, it was sniffing around the $1,700 level after briefly hitting<\/a> a 14-month low near $1,500 earlier in June before recovering somewhat on news of a peace deal between the United States and Iran.<\/p>\n Analyst sentiment regarding it is divided, with some like Daan Crypto Trades noting<\/a> that ETH is on track for its second-worst first half of the year since 2022 after a 29% plunge in Q1 and another 21% decline so far in Q2. That puts it on course for three double-digit quarterly losses in a row.<\/p>\n LIMITED OFFER for CryptoPotato readers at Bybit: Use this link<\/a> to register and open a $500 FREE position on any coin!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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