Ethereum reclaims peak levels from 2021 in August on-chabin volume

Ethereum volumes expanded in August, showing robust on-chain activity. The result coincided with a new all-time high for ETH and further expectations of scaling the $5,000 hurdle for the first time. 

Ethereum activity returned to levels not seen since 2021, showing the combination of value growth and on-chain transfers. The recent ETH rally also showed that the L1 was good enough for large-scale DeFi, with no serious gas spikes or congestion. 

Adoption for DeFi and stablecoin usage remains near peak levels. Monthly active addresses for ETH expanded to 9.7M, with regular daily spikes to over 830K daily active users.

Ethereum monthly transactions and volumes reach 2025 peak

Ethereum monthly transactions reached over 46.9M transfers as of August 29, breaking the peak from May 2021 at 45.06M transfers. Based on those transaction levels, the Ethereum network moved over $14B on a weekly basis, returning to liquidity not seen since the summer of 2021.

On-chain volumes also reached the highest level for 2025 in the past month. 

ETH is still facing disparate price pressures. Reports have shown whales are still buying significant amounts of ETH after the recent small dip. 

Ethereum whale just bought $80,370,000 $ETH.

Buy the dip opportunities incoming. pic.twitter.com/PGxco1CwWr

— Ted (@TedPillows) August 29, 2025

At the same time, Wintermute has accumulated ETH with the potential to sell, and Binance has also placed millions of ETH orders within minutes.

Based on recent reports, the market absorbed up to $400M in ETH for the past few hours. ETH may also see additional downside, as most of the liquidity is deployed below current prices. Large-scale whale selling may lead to additional liquidations, erasing some of the net gains for August.

The rise in activity is seen as a sign of retail returning. In the past quarters, retail had almost abandoned ETH, while whales continued to accumulate. Now, Ethereum activity shows a shift in sentiment, with users returning to the most active apps. 

Based on gas usage, the Ethereum network carries simple ETH transfers, with USDT and USDC also in the top 3 smart contracts. As a whole, smart contract creation expanded for Ethereum in 2025, again recovering to activity levels of 2021. This time around, the smart contracts were tied to DeFi, and not to NFT or the launch of meme tokens. 

Ethereum activity boosts ETH market price

As ETH showed robust results, the price stabilized around $4,350.16, based on robust inflows. ETH recovered above 0.040 BTC, retaining its momentum while BTC showed weakness. 

Based on the monthly performance to date, ETH is on track to end August with a net gain for the first time in three years. For the month to date, ETH gained over 17%, despite short-term volatility and corrections. 

ETH is also showing signs of ongoing whale accumulation, with a mix of selling at the peak and re-buying at lower prices. ETH also has an ongoing interest in ETF buying for the whole of 2025, as Cryptopolitan previously reported. 

The Ethereum chain has now evolved to carry a different type of traffic, mostly removing NFT and play-to-earn games. Ethereum also showed that the network was not cannibalized by L2 chains or abandoned for cheaper L1 networks like Solana and BNB Chain. The only thing that kept users away was the lack of liquidity and DeFi opportunities. 

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