Ethereum posted a striking split in the first quarter of 2026. Monthly active users reached 13.2 million, up 53.5% quarter over quarter. Total transactions climbed to 200.4 million, up 38.0%. Throughput rose to 25.78 transactions per second, up 41.2%. All three set new records for the mainnet. At the same time, mainnet fees fell to $39.9 million, down 47.9%, while fully diluted market cap dropped to $290 billion, down 30.3%. In Token Terminal’s reading, Ethereum is trading short-term fee capture for scale as cheaper block space unlocks more demand.
More activity on mainnet, but lower cost per transaction
The report links much of that shift to the second Blob Parameters Only fork, or BPO #2, carried out in January during the Fusaka upgrade cycle. That change increased data capacity. The effect was clear: more transactions were settled on layer 1, throughput moved higher, and the total fees paid by users to access the base layer still went down. By the report’s framework, average transaction cost dropped sharply.
Other developments in the quarter pointed in the same direction. The Ethereum Foundation set its 2026 Protocol Cluster priorities around scaling, user experience, and strengthening layer 1. ERC-8004 went live on mainnet in February as a standard for AI Agent identity and reputation. In March, the Institutional Ethereum Forum highlighted growing participation from traditional finance.
DeFi metrics softened while tokenized assets kept growing
At the ecosystem level, several dollar-denominated indicators declined. Ethereum’s total value locked averaged $316.2 billion, down 11.0% from the prior quarter. Active loans averaged $21.8 billion, down 16.6%. DEX volume totaled $134.5 billion, down 24.0%. Ecosystem fees came in at $2 billion, down 16.9%. The report ties that pullback to weaker asset prices and lower risk appetite during the quarter.
Tokenized assets moved in the opposite direction. The market value of tokenized assets on Ethereum reached $203.4 billion, up 42.9% year over year, including $178.9 billion in stablecoins, $19.4 billion in tokenized funds, $4.7 billion in tokenized commodities, and $365.1 million in tokenized equities. On a cross-chain basis, Ethereum still held the majority share across stablecoins, tokenized funds, commodities, and stocks, with especially strong growth in funds and gold-linked assets.
Institutional issuance adds weight to the settlement-layer case
The report argues that Ethereum’s core narrative is moving away from being defined only as a DeFi chain and toward a broader role as a global settlement layer for finance. BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Fidelity were cited among the institutions already involved in tokenized fund issuance and on-chain settlement activity. Regulated funds, yield-bearing on-chain dollars, tokenized gold, and tokenized equities are all adding to the base of real-world assets on the network.
Ethereum also remained ahead on several market-share measures. Among the top five chains, the report said Ethereum accounted for 79.2% of active DeFi loans, 61.8% of stablecoins, 73.0% of tokenized funds, and 84.0% of tokenized commodities. Lower mainnet fees did not stop the holder base from growing. ETH holder addresses averaged 292.8 million, up 8.1% quarter over quarter, while the staking ratio rose to 0.31x, above 0.28x in both the previous quarter and the same period a year earlier.
Token Terminal noted that the report covers Ethereum layer 1 only, with layer 2 networks treated as separate chains. The central message from the quarter was not simply that fees fell. It was that Ethereum mainnet handled more users and more transactions at lower cost, while continuing to pull institutional assets and settlement activity onto the chain.