Ethereum is scaling into its position as the impartial settlement layer. Worth accrues throughout L2s and functions — not from squeezing L1 fees. The paradox is, on a utilization versus income foundation, Ethereum seems to be each profitable and shedding.
Take into account this:
- Throughput up: month-to-month transactions and distinctive lively addresses are at, or close to, highs.
- Price down: median and common tx fees sit close to cycle lows; base-fee gwei is low and regular.
- Combine shift: rollups are stuffing blobs at report ranges; customers commerce extra, particularly stables, with out pushing L1 fees up.
- Income craters: base-fee burn + ideas are far beneath 2021–22; internet issuance is low however typically optimistic.
The implication: Worth derives from demand for Ethereum’s credible neutrality, safety, and settlement throughout L2s, and never by maximizing L1 fees.
1. Transaction depend: a gradual climb to a brand new excessive (~50M+ month-to-month). Even reverted transactions have trended down, now barely registering as a share, proof of more healthy mempool and MEV dynamics.
Supply: Ethereum Onchain Activity, accessed Sep. 12, 2025
2. Distinctive lively addresses: at a multi-year excessive, with a bigger slice of “new” addresses. This isn’t a person metric, however is directionally supportive over very long time intervals.
Supply: Ethereum Onchain Activity
3. Transaction payment (USD): on common, nicely beneath prior cycles regardless of increased utilization. That displays elasticity from gas-target will increase, higher mempool habits, and migration of heavy exercise to layer-2.
Supply: Ethereum Onchain Activity
4. Base payment price (gwei): The drop in fees is primarily a perform of base payment compression, now all the way down to round 1–3 gwei most days. Spikes fade rapidly, displaying persistent extra capability at L1, and people fees are much more predictable than a yr in the past.
Supply: Ethereum Onchain Activity
5. Payment breakdown: Precedence fees have dominated in current months (≥50% of complete), reflecting low base-fee gwei and extra competitors for ordering/MEV. Pricing energy has shifted towards ideas moderately than congestion-driven base fees, because the Dencun upgrade in March, 2024.
Supply: Ethereum Onchain Activity
6. Blob utilization: all-time highs. Dencun initiated blobs, and Pectra made them less expensive for L2 rollups. Unichain and Base lead, with OP, Arbitrum, World Chain, Taiko contributing. Rollup information demand stays the expansion engine for now.
Supply: Ethereum Data Availability
However Ethereum mainnet itself is a pleasure to make use of at present, because of its reliability and modest fees.
7. DEX quantity (pair combine): August popped to cycle highs; ETH-stable and stable-stable dominate, displaying — for probably the most half — buying and selling depth is up with out payment stress. The launch of WLFI on Sep 1, 2025 proved a notable exception!
Supply: Ethereum DEX Activity
8. Stablecoin swaps by DEX: This has been the story of the summer time. Stablecoin swaps are manner up. Uniswap nonetheless #1, however Fluid and Ekubo shares are rising.
Supply: Ethereum DEX Activity
9. Community income (ETH): Ether burned as a results of fees is nicely beneath peak eras. The addition of blob fees remains to be small on L1, which means as a settlement layer Ethereum is just not getting a lot income, regardless of increased exercise metrics throughout the board.
Supply: Ethereum Financials
However right here’s the factor. Income could not matter as a lot as it does elsewhere.
10. ETH issuance (USD): Since The Merge and the change to proof-of-stake, ether issuance has been low. We see a gradual rise with staking/worth indicative of a low burn. Whereas internet provide tilts nearer to zero, it stays barely optimistic. However, it’s nonetheless beneath that of Bitcoin, which is thought as a hard-money digital gold.
Supply: Ethereum Financials
Ethereum’s long-term trajectory is outlined extra by effectivity than extraction, with rising transaction quantity and person exercise selecting L1 at ever-lower per-tx price.
As payment seize migrates up the stack to L2 sequencers, MEV provide chains, and functions, Ethereum’s base layer more and more serves as a low-margin, high-integrity settlement platform.
For buyers, this implies shifting focus away from payment income and burn charges, and towards metrics like L2 blob utilization, settlement share, validator high quality and incentives, and general community safety spend. These are the true levers of worth in Ethereum’s evolving modular stack.lorem ipsum
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