Ethereum Wallets Hit Record Growth as Network Use Climbs

[Ben Graham]

Ethereum just recorded its highest level of new wallet creation so far, with more than 327,000 new addresses being opened each day last week. Even with that surge, the price of ETH stayed fairly steady, which suggests people were using the network rather than rushing in to trade. This kind of pattern has shown up before in crypto, where activity on the network grows first, and prices react later.

Data from Santiment shows wallet growth picked up while Ethereum fees stayed lower, and overall mood improved. For regular users, this points to more people using apps on Ethereum instead of only buying and selling ETH on exchanges.

What does “new Ethereum wallets” actually mean?

A crypto wallet works a bit like an online bank account. It holds your digital money and lets you use apps built on a blockchain. When the number of wallets goes up, it usually means new users, developers, or businesses are joining in.

BREAKING: Ethereum's new wallet growth has reached new all-time high levels. Over the past week, crypto's #2 market cap has seen an average of 327.1K new $ETH wallets created per day, including a 393.6K day Sunday (the highest ever).

There can be several reasons attributed… pic.twitter.com/zD1YcOV3wO

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 13, 2026

Last week, Ethereum averaged about 327,000 new wallets a day, with one day reaching more than 393,000. The number of wallets that actually hold ETH also climbed to around 173 million, which shows many of these accounts are active and not just sitting empty.

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Why lower fees are pulling people back to Ethereum

Santiment links part of this growth to Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade in December, which reduced costs and made apps easier to use. You can think of it like easing traffic on a busy road. When it becomes cheaper and smoother to get around, more people are willing to travel.

Source: Santiment

Lower fees help beginners too. High costs scared many users away in the past. Now, using finance apps, NFTs, or stablecoins on Ethereum feels more manageable, which makes opening a wallet worth the effort again.

Stablecoins and staking show deeper commitment

Stablecoins also play a role here. These are digital dollars like USDC that people use to pay and send money. Santiment noticed heavy stablecoin activity on Ethereum late last year, which hints at real economic use on the network.

At the same time, more than $76 Billion worth of ETH is now locked into DeFi protocols, according to data from DefiLlama.

Source: DefiLlama

Staking is another popular utility for ETH, and this means setting aside ETH to help run the network and earn rewards. People usually do this when they plan to stick around. For example, Binance and Coinbase together hold over 6 million ETH in total for their users. In addition to this, interest from institutions continues to grow, as evidenced by recent coverage of institutional Ethereum adoption.

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The bigger picture: adoption beats price watching

Growth in wallets often precedes price moves. The same thing happened during the rise of DeFi in 2020 and NFTs in 2021. More users lead to more demand for apps, network space, and ETH itself.

Other networks like Solana, Polygon, and Base have also seen more wallets, but Ethereum benefits from having a huge range of apps and a large group of people staking their coins, which helps keep users around.

A reality check for beginners

More wallets do not mean the price will jump next week. Some accounts belong to bots or heavy users, and crypto prices can still swing a lot.

If you are new, spend time learning how wallets work before putting in serious money. Hardware wallets are a good option, recovery phrases should never be shared, and starting small is always safer.

For now, the spike in wallets tells a clear story. More people are joining Ethereum and using it for real things, and the price will follow when the timing lines up.

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