Ethereum has posted record on-chain activity, yet ETH has continued to weaken in price and fee generation. In a weekly report released on March 10, CryptoQuant said that several core Ethereum metrics reached all-time highs. Daily active addresses in February 2026 approached 2 million, smart contract calls climbed above 40 million per day, and token transfers also set a new peak.
Usage has moved beyond the 2021 bull-market high
CryptoQuant said current Ethereum activity now exceeds levels seen at the top of the 2021 cycle. The report tied that growth to expanding stablecoin usage, DeFi demand, and heavier interaction across the Layer 2 ecosystem.
Ethereum currently holds about 52% of global circulating stablecoin supply, equal to roughly $162 billion, according to the report. More traffic between the main chain and Layer 2 networks has helped lift total network usage. The activity picture is strong. The market picture is not.
ETH price and network fees tell a different story
The report said ETH has fallen about 30% over the past six months. Realized cap has turned negative, pointing to net capital leaving the ecosystem. At the same time, exchange inflows for Ethereum are running above Bitcoin, a pattern often associated with increased sell pressure from holders.
Fee revenue shows the same disconnect. DefiLlama data cited in the article put Ethereum’s transaction fees over the past 30 days at about $10.3 million, ranking third among public blockchains. That trails Tron at about $25 million and Solana at about $20 million. On protocol net revenue, Ethereum has even slipped out of the top five, behind Layer 2 networks such as Base and Polygon.
Capital flows are carrying more weight in pricing
CryptoQuant argued that the old formula linking higher usage to a higher token price is no longer working in a straight line. Ethereum still dominates stablecoin activity and remains the busiest smart-contract network by several measures, but that usage is not converting cleanly into demand for ETH itself.
The report pointed to two reasons. Holding USDC or USDT does not require holding ETH, and Layer 2 scaling has sharply reduced Gas costs, lowering the direct value capture from mainnet fees. In that setup, ETH price action is being shaped less by raw usage and more by capital movement: who is buying and who is selling.