Ethereum’s core network is seeing a quiet turnaround. After a year of upgrades, transaction fees have fallen sharply and daily active addresses on the main chain have climbed past major layer-2 networks, signalling that long-term scaling plans are beginning to show real results.
Ethereum mainnet regains ground
Active addresses on Ethereum topped 791,000 on Monday, surpassing usage on leading layer-2 networks such as Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism, according to Nansen. That figure marks a 71% increase from roughly 460,000 addresses recorded a year earlier.
Usage has risen alongside falling costs. Average transaction fees dropped to about $0.15 this week, down from around $11 one year ago. On Tuesday alone, the network processed roughly 2.1 million transactions, one of its highest daily totals to date.
From fee crisis to steady scaling
The contrast with recent history is stark. During the DeFi boom and NFT surge of late 2021 and 2022, Ethereum users regularly faced gas fees exceeding $200, raising doubts about whether the network could serve everyday use at scale.
The response came in stages. Layer-2 networks expanded rapidly in 2023, with Coinbase launching Base that August. At the same time, Ethereum itself underwent key upgrades. The Pectra upgrade in May expanded blob capacity, allowing rollups to post data more cheaply. A second upgrade, Fusaka, activated in December 2025, increased blob space further and introduced peer data availability sampling, reducing the amount of data validators need to download.
Developers look further ahead
Lower fees and rising activity are also attracting builders back to Ethereum’s base layer. Token Terminal data shows that new smart contracts published on Ethereum reached a record 8.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2025, a signal of sustained developer interest.
That momentum comes as competition intensifies among layer-1 networks such as Solana, Tron, and BNB Chain, which continue to lead in raw transaction counts. Ethereum’s developers, however, are focused on durability. This week, co-founder Vitalik Buterin said the network must eventually reach a point where it can function without constant intervention, a standard he calls the “walkaway test.” Upcoming upgrades, including the Glamsterdam fork planned for 2026, aim to boost throughput toward 10,000 transactions per second and further strengthen Ethereum’s long-term foundations.