Ethereum saw a huge uptick in new addresses with over 135k created in a single day. According to the on-chain data platform Santiment, this network expansion is over 11% more than the last highest estimate for 2022 i.e, on Jan 3rd.
Despite a bearish price outlook, on-chain indicators are pointing towards positive development for Ethereum in terms of network activity.
Approximately 70k unique addresses per day were found to be rising, which was the highest level since early August, Santiment previously reported.
Since the Merge, another on-chain metric highlighted increased activity. The volume of transactions rose just two days before the incident, topping the daily average of $15 billion. Following the event, the transaction volume stood at an average of $3 billion, recorded a few weeks earlier.
Ethereum completed the switch from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake consensus on September 15, 2022. As a result, it was able to cut down the network’s energy usage by 99.8%. This also eliminated the blockchain’s dependency on energy-intensive mining and enabled the network to be secured using staked ETH.
Ethereum Merge Deemed As Technological Marvel
The ambitious Merge was an important step to achieve higher security, scalability, and sustainability. sSwitch the consensus algorithm was considered a major technological feat requiring the coordination of dozens of teams working for years.
After the successful completion, the Merge was the subject of much speculation and excitement on social media, and the price of ETH suggested a potential “sell-the-news” move.
The broader crypto market experienced a wave comparable to that experienced by the U.S. equity markets when they succumbed to tremendous selling pressure.
ETH has been continuously under selling pressure since mid-September. The price of the asset has decreased by more than 25% after the Merge event.
Currently, ETH is hovering just above $1,300, but as Santiment pointed out, there are strong odds of a bounce soon. Utility spikes frequently signal possible asset breakouts, it added.
In other development, Ethereum’s permissionless decentralized ZK-Rollup StarkNet processed 3-6 million/week transactions, overtaking the world’s most dominant blockchain Bitcoin on certain weeks, TronWeekly reported.
According to the platform, at this rate, the layer-2 solution powered by the innovative ZK-STARK technology could likewise surpass global fintech player Visa in transaction speeds.
