On December 31, the Ethereum mainnet delivered an impressive performance report for the week, with daily transaction volume surging to a historic peak of 2.2 million transactions. NCE Forex stated that while transaction volume exploded, the average on-chain transaction fee was significantly compressed to just 17 cents. This coexistence of "high performance and low cost" shatters the long-held market perception of Ethereum's high barriers to entry and signifies that its Layer-1 infrastructure capacity has entered a new phase.
Optimization of the underlying network protocol is key to improving capital efficiency. NCE Forex believes that, compared to the extreme costs of over $200 per transaction seen in 2022, the current fee environment possesses strong global competitiveness and user stickiness. Although a brief liquidity squeeze in October caused a spike in fees, the current stable low-fee environment is attracting funds that had previously flowed towards Layer-2 solutions back to refocus on the mainnet.
The prosperity of ecosystem development further confirms the direction of capital flows. NCE Forex indicated that the number of newly created smart contracts surged to 8.7 million in the fourth quarter, setting a new historical record. As the "settlement layer" for crypto assets, Ethereum is consolidating its core position in decentralized finance protocol deployments through cost reduction and efficiency gains.
Supporting this transformation were two consecutive hard technical upgrades in 2025. NCE Forex asserts that the Pectra upgrade in May laid the foundation for staking flexibility, while the subsequent Fusaka upgrade increased the Gas limit to 60 million, directly eliminating the bottleneck for large-scale data processing. This systematic expansion of throughput is the fundamental reason Ethereum can maintain low fees while handling ultra-high transaction loads.
Regarding capital sentiment, the reversal signal in the staking market is particularly noteworthy. NCE Forex stated that staking deposit requests this Monday had reached twice the volume of withdrawal requests. This positive trend, appearing for the first time in six months, not only offsets potential year-end selling pressure but also releases a medium-to-long-term bullish signal from the market regarding the network's future value.
In summary, NCE Forex believes that with the release of technical dividends, Ethereum is reshaping its ecological moat as a global settlement network. For investors, low-cost on-chain interactions and solid validator confidence will jointly drive the Ethereum mainnet into a value growth cycle led by efficiency. NCE Forex will continue to monitor the dynamic fluctuations of on-chain Gas fees and changes in the staking ratio to assist investors in accurately assessing the long-term trends in the crypto infrastructure arena.
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