Ethereum Hits Transaction Record as Fees Crash to Pennies

Ben Graham · 7 horas atrás

Ethereum is battle-tested and has successfully stood through the test of time. After navigating through scaling challenges, the first smart contract platform now anchors decentralized finance (DeFi), securing billions.

After years of high fees, Ethereum is turning the corner, taking on competing platforms like Solana, attractive because it is very cheap to transact on the mainnet, and near-zero to move value of implement smart contracts on its layer-2s like Arbitrum or sidechains like Polygon.

In the third week of January, Ethereum is processing more daily transactions than ever before. What’s more? Gas fees is at its lowest levels on record. Meanwhile, the Ethereum price is firm, holding steady above $3,200.

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Ethereum is More Performant, Fees Dropping

This split between increased network activity and price action defines early 2026 theme: People are using Ethereum more, even when prices wobble. Trackers show that Ethereum averaged close to 2.5M transactions per day over the past week, nearly double the activity seen a year ago. The increase in activity is driven by a combination of technical upgrades and a shift in how users interact with the blockchain.

(Source: TheBlock)

In late 2025, Ethereum implemented the Fusaka upgrade, allowing layer-2s like Arbitrum and Base to post data to Ethereum much more cheaply. Additionally, the Ethereum block gas limit was raised from 45M to 60M, allowing the base layer to process more transactions per block without causing congestion. From a technical front, the Peer Data Availability Sampling began rolling out, allowing the network to handle more data efficiently.

Someone had to make the Fusaka cheat sheet.

Here you go pic.twitter.com/C32z6Xiy9L

— James ⟠ | Snapcrackle.eth (@Snapcrackle) December 3, 2025

The upcoming Glamsterdam fork will further enhance the network, enabling nodes to process independent transactions simultaneously across multiple CPU cores. This effectively turns a single-lane road into a multi-lane superhighway, drastically increasing throughput without risking “state conflicts.” Ethereum developers also plan to make the network more censorship-resistant by reducing the power of “centralized” relays. After this upgrade, the block limit will also increase from the current 60M to over 100M.

Ethereum Glamsterdam Upgrade in 2026 is COMING

– Parallel EVM. 200M gas. Bigger blobs.
– 10k TPS on Ethereum and 100k TPS on L2
– 10% of validators moving to ZK rollups.

This is Ethereum scaling even FASTER pic.twitter.com/2SJ41TCSnv

— Ethprofit.eth (@Ethprofit) December 28, 2025

As the mainnet processes more transactions, fees are drastically falling. While it used to cost $50 to $100 to use the network during busy periods, average mainnet fees have dropped to approximately $0.15–$0.20, even as daily transactions hit an all-time high of over 2.5M. Fees are low partly because most intensive apps, including games, are move to layer-2s like Base.

(Source: TheBlock)

Since transacting on layer-2s is cheaper and only a summary is sent to the mainnet for confirmation, Ethereum is now free from congestion. After Glamsterdam, transacting via layer-2s will be way cheaper, attractive, and the mainnet gas fees will likely drop even more.

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Will ETH USDT Price Break $5,000?

Transaction count gauges network activity. Whenever activity spikes, prices often tend to follow. Unfortunately for the ETH USDT price, the coin has been unable to clear recent highs, and $5,000. This is despite the high optimism in 2025, which became a ceiling.

The Fusaka upgrade successfully dropped layer-2 fees even further. Gas fees were also very low following the Dencun update in March 2024. This has led to a massive surge in network activity. If this activity continues to scale, the sheer volume of “burned” ETH could outpace new supply, making ETH increasingly scarce. After Glamsterdam, Ethereum will activate parallel processing. This feature removes the “congestion tax” that previously drove users to other chains like Solana, the host of meme coins, possibly attracting billions in total value locked to the ecosystem.

As the network upgrades, large-scale accumulation by firms like BitMine, which recently added 44,000 ETH to its treasury, is tightening the liquid supply. So far, spot Ethereum ETFs manage over $20Bn. Over $350M of spot Ethereum ETF shares have been bought in the last week alone.

BitMine bought $44,500,000 in $ETH today.

Tom Lee wants all your Ethereum. pic.twitter.com/BAqiFLb1fG

— Ted (@TedPillows) September 9, 2025

Given this inflow and drastic performance improvement in the mainnet, Standard Chartered analysts believe the Ethereum price could break $7,500 by the end of the year. This growth will be driven mostly by increased tokenization, especially of bonds, fiat, and real estate.

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