Rising gas use and NFT activity confirm Ethereum’s expanding role beyond swaps into broader decentralized finance infra.

Ethereum (ETH) has broken through a major limit. For four years, daily transactions on the network held within a span of 900,000 to 1.2 million. However, the range is finally broken as the protocol now records 1.6 million to 1.7 million daily transactions.

The steady rise shows that Ethereum’s usage is expanding despite market chaos, with data from Etherscan confirming the same upward flow and showing sustained transaction heights that now surpass previous years.

Activity Spikes as Ethereum Leads DeFi Momentum

CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost measured the activity using a 14-day simple moving average to account for normal volatility, with the recent jump to 1.6-1.7 million marking a major departure from this long-standing pattern.

He related the surge to the pressure of decentralized finance (DeFi) growth, with Ethereum serving as both a liquidity support, a lending platform, and a stablecoin transfer. This rapid expansion in on-chain activity also demonstrates a documented correlation with the price of ETH, providing a fundamental basis for its market performance.

The data shows that even during a period of negative sentiment in late March, the network was already processing a higher average of 1.2 million transactions per day, setting the stage for the current breakout.

Furthermore, IntoTheBlock previously indicated increasing gas consumption on the main chain as a signal of higher smart contract activity. Meanwhile, other reports also revealed that stablecoin flows on Ethereum have accelerated. This represents a trend that directly supports the rising transaction count.

The upswing is not just about token swaps. Data from CryptoSlam show there’s been a surge in ETH-based NFT sales, with minting and rollup settlements contributing to the spike.

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Accumulation, Reserves, and Long-term Impact

Ethereum’s network growth is happening at a time its native ETH token is showing quite strength. The asset surged by double digits since the start of the week to over $4,400 at one point.

There is also growing institutional interest, with a separate report indicating that digital asset treasury companies now hold a larger percentage of the total ETH supply (4%) than they do of Bitcoin (3%), suggesting a possible shift in preference among corporate balance sheets.

The combination of strong on-chain activity and a successful price breakout above $4,000 has analysts charting ambitious paths forward. One trader, Merlijn, described the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency’s long-term price structure as a “ladder,” with the recent move establishing a new base for future advances.

His analysis pointed to an ascending channel that projects potential targets at $6,500, $8,000, and even $10,000. At the same time, other market watchers are keeping a close eye on key resistance levels. They have identified the $4,350 zone as a significant barrier that, if overcome, could open the path toward $4,790.