Ethereum Has Record Users and a Sinking Price

Ethereum is being used more than ever and priced like it is fading. ETH trades around 1,759 dollars, roughly 64 percent below its August 2025 record, even as active users hit records and transactions surge. The disconnect between a busy network and a falling token is the story of Ethereum in 2026.

The usage numbers are genuinely strong. Monthly active users jumped more than 50 percent in the first quarter to over 13 million, and transactions topped 200 million, signs of a network people actually use. By the old logic, that kind of growth should pull the price up with it. This year it has not, and that gap is what has investors confused.

The reason is that success made it cheaper to use. Upgrades and cheaper layer-two networks cut base-layer fees nearly in half, which is great for users but means the network earns less from each transaction. Lower fees reduce the income that backs ETH's value and slow the rate at which coins are burned, weakening one of the props under the price. Growth and revenue have split apart.

The macro piling on top does not help. Spot Ether ETFs have seen sustained outflows, the hawkish Fed and strong dollar are pressuring all of crypto, and ETH trades like a high-risk asset when money turns defensive. On top of that, the long-awaited Glamsterdam upgrade has slipped to the second half of the year, removing a near-term catalyst bulls were counting on.

That upgrade is the bull case deferred, not denied. Glamsterdam targets a large cut in gas fees, a tenfold jump in throughput, and changes that reduce value leaking out of the system, the kind of overhaul meant to make Ethereum both cheaper and more valuable to hold. Pushed to the back half of the year, it leaves ETH waiting, with strong usage but no fresh trigger.

So Ethereum looks healthy on-chain and weak on the screen, and both things are true at once. Record users, falling fees, ETF outflows, and an upgrade pushed back. The network is winning while the token is not. Watch the Glamsterdam timeline and ETF flows for when the two reconnect.