Daily active Ethereum addresses approached 2 million in February 2026, surpassing the peak of the 2021 bull market. Smart contract calls were 40 million per day and token transfers were set to all-time highs. However, the price of ETH has fallen by 30% in the last six months as capital is leaving the market.
So here is the question that every Ethereum holder is sitting with right now: if the network was never busy, why is the price like no one cares?
why ethereum main scale is the right direction:
addresses are active in ethereum at all times. pic.twitter.com/yjd433G0xW
— Joseph Young (@iamjosefyoung) February 5, 2026
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Ethereum network performance: Information
The image of the face of the chain, taken at face value, looks unusual. A weekly report by analytics firm CryptoQuant published on March 10 showed that daily active addresses (unique wallet addresses that sent or received transactions within a 24-hour window) exceeded 700,000 in February 2026.
Sentiment information adds further text. The 30-day average number of daily active addresses is 837,200: 82% more than five years ago and more than 1,100% more than ten years ago. New wallet creation averages 284,800 per day, up 64% from five years ago.
The combined throughput of Layer 1 and Layer 2 also exceeded 100 Mgas/s (megagases per second), led by Base with 30.54 Mgas/s, Polygon PoS grew 189% in six months, and fast-growing chains such as Scroll and Unichain.
Currently, more than 37.25 million ETH have been mined, reducing the circulating supply and strengthening the security of the network. Beneath the surface, the infrastructure story has never been stronger.
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Why is ETH price lagging behind despite record usage?
In the previous periods, especially in 2018 and 2021, the increase in chain activity and prices are linked together. However, the latest CryptoQuant analysis shows that this relationship is broken. High activity is now associated with low prices, meaning that increased usage no longer explains ETH’s valuation.
The paid image tells a similar story. Data from DefiLlama shows that Ethereum has paid out nearly $11 million over the past 30 days, third behind Tron and Solana. In terms of protocol revenue, Ethereum ranked fifth with $1.22 million, behind Tron, Polygon, Base and Solana. Base, Ethereum Layer 2, created by Coinbase, generated almost three times the revenue of the Ethereum layer protocol during the same period.
This structural tension is the root cause of the paradox. Ethereum’s scaling improvements, notably EIP-4844, introduced in early 2024, have reduced transaction costs on Layer 2 networks. The goal was cheaper transactions for users, but the side effect is the loss of payment revenue.
CryptoQuant’s exchange flow data supports the view of selling pressure: Ethereum is trading faster than Bitcoin, which is consistent with the increase in distribution. Ethereum’s one-year realized capitalization, a measure of the total value of all ETH at the last price, has turned negative, indicating a net capital outflow. Price follows sentiment in the short term. And right now, emotions don’t follow the basics. If you want a fuller picture, you can delve deeper into the exact paradox of institutional buying and price stagnation.
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ETH Price Watch: The Levels That Will Decide What Happens Next
We cannot ignore the risks in the diagram. ETH has failed to recover major resistance levels in recent weeks, and the broader altcoin market remains under pressure from Bitcoin’s higher dominance. If the selling pressure continues and ETH loses the closest support around $1,750, the next meaningful floor will become a real question, not a technical one.
On the other hand, a retracement of the $2,400-$2,500 zone on strong volume would be the first reliable signal that sentiment is changing.
Two scenarios are at play. Either capital flows back into ETH as Bitcoin’s dominance peaks and investors look for higher beta opportunities, or the fee income squeeze story continues sentiment and holds ETH range as activity picks up on the chain. Recent readings on Ethereum network upgrades and price trajectories show what the roadmap for 2026 means for both scenarios.
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After the price of ETH, despite the record of activity of the Ethereum network, it was initially found at 99Bitcoins.
