Cryptocurrency Ethereum has set a record

The Ethereum network ended the first quarter of 2026 with a record high of more than 200.4 million transactions. This is a 43% increase compared to the previous quarter, which is the highest result in the history of the network, Finbold reports.

The main driving force behind the growth was a sharp increase in the number of active addresses. From January 1 to March 31, 2026, the number of active addresses on the Ethereum network reached 12.6 million, up 1,704% from the previous quarter, according to DeFiLlama. The peak of daily activity occurred on February 7, 2026, when the network processed 2.897 million transactions per day.

Among the key growth factors is the expansion of Layer 2 networks, in particular Base and Arbitrum, which significantly increased the load on the main network. The stablecoin market also made a significant contribution: the total capitalization of stablecoins on Ethereum at the end of the reporting quarter was about $ 164.4 billion.

The daily number of active addresses in February 2026 exceeded 2 million, which was an absolute record in the history of the network — higher than even during the peak bull market of 2021. At the same time, the number of interactions with smart contracts exceeded 40 million per day.

For context, Ethereum’s competitor, the Solana network, processed more than 10 billion transactions in the same quarter, but Ethereum transactions include more complex operations with smart contracts and DeFi protocols that require significantly more computing resources.

The record-breaking network activity comes amid a decline in the price of ETH — the cryptocurrency is trading about 55% below its historical high. Analysts note an atypical discrepancy between the growth of network activity and the price dynamics of the asset.