1. Home
  2. News
  3. Ethereum news
  4. Record number of addresses on the Ethereum network!

Record number of addresses on the Ethereum network!

Photo of: Joseph Stone
by Joseph Stone

More than 51 million addresses now hold Ethereum. This is the highest level reached so far. At the beginning of January 2020, this figure was 34.7 million.

Bitcoin is not the only value to be monitored. The crypto-active value is still approaching 30,000 dollars. At the last halving, it was close to $10,000. Its progression in 2020 is therefore spectacular.

It can be explained by the sharp drop in the BTC’s liquidity. Nevertheless, other crypto-assets are breaking records. This is particularly the case of Ethereum, the 2nd largest cryptocurrency in terms of capitalization.

According to Glassnode, a new record has just been set. This is the number of addresses now holding Ether. This figure sets a new all-time high with 51,491,730 addresses. This represents a 48% jump over one year.

Indeed, in January 2020, these addresses were 34.7 million. Two main factors explain this increase. On the one hand, the increase in the number of institutional investors acquiring Ethereum.

“The development of the asset class has continued to consolidate,” said Grayscale’s boss recently. “Ethereum has the same solidity as Bitcoin”, he said. And institutional investors are not insensitive to this.

In fact, CME Group will be launching ether futures (ETH) contracts as early as next month. And Messari sees this as a signal for institutional purchases of cryptocurrencies in 2021.

Bitcoin and Ether same destiny thanks to institutional investors
“Once you accept that Bitcoin can be valuable, it opens your mind to the possibility that other crypto-actives can be valuable as well. Then it’s much easier to switch from $BTC to $ETH,” writes analyst Ryan Watkins.

These favorable observations actually contribute to the value of Ether. Within a week, its price rose by 20%. On January 1, the crypto-active was trading at nearly $740. But Ethereum also benefits from the development of DeFi.

In the 3rd quarter of 2020, a key period for decentralized finance, the global transaction volume reached $125 billion. According to DappRadar, this represented a considerable increase of $113 billion compared to the previous quarter.

Above all, 96% of this transaction volume took place through the Ethereum blockchain. This is not without some drawbacks, however. Network congestion triggers inflation of transaction costs. Ethereum 2.0, which is now on the right track, could partly solve this problem.