• Ethereum raked in $7.3B in fees over the past year, despite its price lagging behind.
• Is this surge signaling a shift toward fundamental utility over speculation?

Ethereum [ETH] might not be leading this altseason, with its price down 26% heading into Q3 2025. However, the network itself is anything but quiet. 

Whale wallets holding between 1,000 and 10,000 ETH have increased by 6.5% over the same period. Meanwhile, the network added over 21 million new addresses, pushing total address growth close to 10%. 

Cumulatively, could these signals point to Ethereum laying the foundation for its next chapter? Maybe even a shift from a speculative asset to a full-fledged Web3 economy?

Ethereum’s on-chain demand defies price action

Nothing illustrates a Layer-1 blockchain’s network utility better than its fee generation, and Ethereum continues to dominate on that front. 

Over the past 12 months, the network has generated $7.3 billion in fees.

Stablecoin issuers like Tether and Circle accounted for the largest share at $4.3 billion (59%), with Lido Finance driving $910 million in fees, as ETH staking became mainstream post-Merge.

Meanwhile, lending protocols such as Aave, Morpho, and Convex Finance have also remained active, generating $767 million in fees. Despite market caution, borrowing continues to drive steady engagement.

Finally, decentralized exchanges like Uniswap added $750 million in fees, underscoring the resilience of on-chain trading activity and DeFi flows.

But that may just be the surface. According to CryptoQuant, on the 25th of June, Ethereum processed 1.75 million confirmed transactions, marking its third-highest daily total ever.

In fact, this surge, based on the “Transaction Count (Total)” metric covering ETH transfers, smart contracts, and DeFi interactions, hadn’t touched such levels since January 2024’s all-time high of 1.96 million.

As AMBCrypto points out, this surge in activity could signal more than a short-term blip. It suggests Ethereum may be entering a new structural phase of growth — One led by utility, not hype.

ETH defends crucial support, eyes range high retest

Technically, Ethereum’s still in the game. 

After that liquidity grab below $2,300, price bounced back into the range and is now hovering just above the key support zone. It’s not exactly bullish yet, but it’s definitely not breaking down either.

You can tell this $2,300-$2,400 area is doing some heavy lifting. If ETH holds this zone and starts pushing back toward $2,575, the market could be setting up for a move toward the top of the range again. 

But if it slips, that $2,100-$2,200 level might need to be tapped for one last flush before any real upside. That’s where Ethereum’s fundamentals start to matter.

Despite the price action, ETH is breaking new ground in transactional volume and network growth. That kind of “sector-wide” expansion is exactly what companies and DAOs look for when committing long-term.

So once broader market sentiment shifts out of risk-off mode, Ethereum’s poised to lead again. Only this time, the rally could be driven more by actual utility than hype — a key differentiator for “sustainable” upside.

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