Ethereum Ecosystem Users Grew 9 Times Since 2020

The Ethereum ecosystem has witnessed a significant surge in daily active users, with figures increasing almost ninefold in just four years.

Analysts attribute this growth to rising demand and predict that Ether will reach unprecedented levels.

Data from crypto ETF issuer Bitwise shows that in the first quarter of 2020, there were over 250,000 daily users across Ethereum and its scaling solutions like Arbitrum and Polygon, most of whom were on Ethereum’s layer-1 mainnet.

By the first quarter of 2024, daily users, including those on newly launched layer-2 networks such as Optimism, Base, and zkSync, escalated to approximately 2.25 million.

This increase has shifted the balance of activity, with Ethereum now constituting a smaller fraction of daily users.

On June 4, Ethereum mainnet accounted for 378,000 active users, Polygon for 1.3 million, and the four other L2s collectively had around 1.5 million.

Optimism was introduced in late 2021, followed by the public launches of zkSync mainnet and Base in 2023.

Although Ethereum's user figures might not seem impressive, they align with the strategic vision of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who advocates for using L2s to scale the main blockchain effectively.

Buterin has likened L2s to the sharding approach from the original Eth 2 plan, suggesting they could help nurture various "subcultures" within the Ethereum community.

Elsewhere, crypto ETF issuer VanEck has revised its Ethereum price forecast upwards.

On June 5, VanEck’s digital assets research head, Matthew Sigel, and colleagues, projected that Ethereum could reach $22,000 by 2030, a significant increase from their previous estimate of $11,800.

They highlighted Ethereum's high revenue per user and growing appeal among traditional financial players and Big Tech.

The analysts also mentioned, “We anticipate that spot ether ETFs are nearing approval to trade on U.S. stock exchanges. This development would allow financial advisors and institutional investors to hold this unique asset [...] and benefit from the pricing and liquidity advantages characteristic of ETFs.”

They further elaborated, “We project ETH’s 2030 valuation based upon a forecast of $66B in free cashflows generated by Ethereum and accruing to the ETH token.”

Ryan Sean Adams from Bankless remarked that despite fewer users, Ethereum still generates triple the fees compared to top layer 2 networks and Solana combined, calling it a “modern miracle.”

L2 networks contribute fees to Ethereum for transaction settlements on the main chain, enhancing their security.

According to CoinGecko, Ether's current price is $3,862, up 1.3% over the past 24 hours.

The expected launch of spot Ether ETFs may drive Ether's price to new highs, although some caution that the inflows into these ETFs might not match those of Bitcoin ETFs.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/eth-ecosystem-users-9x-since-2020-vaneck-forecast-22k-2030

https://x.com/BitwiseInvest/status/1798398829252972793

https://x.com/RyanSAdams/status/1798460468069085234

https://www.vaneck.com/us/en/blogs/digital-assets/matthew-sigel-eth-2030-price-target/