Ethereum Network Tops in Paid Fees but Lags in Active User Count

• According to data, Ethereum has had the highest number of users paying the highest fees in the past six months. The total fees paid to use the Layer 1 (L1) blockchain amounted to $1.3 billion.
• The astronomical increase in Ethereum fees was driven by the memecoin frenzy between April and early June. The primary reason was the launch of the meme token Pepe on the Ethereum network on April 15.
• On May 5, the high volume of PEPE trading on Ethereum pushed the average transaction fee to its highest level in a year at 142 GWEI.

While Ethereum tops the chart in terms of the number of users paying the highest fees, it lags behind in daily user activity.

Ethereum Maintains Leadership in Paid Fees

According to data, Ethereum has had the highest number of users paying the highest fees in the past six months. According to the information provided by the data provider, the total fees paid to use the Layer 1 (L1) blockchain during this period amounted to $1.3 billion.

Tron closely followed Ethereum in this regard, ranking second with a cumulative fee of $451.2 million. Uniswap, a prominent decentralized exchange, secured the third position with cumulative fees totaling $297.1 million. Lido Finance, a liquidity sharing platform, took the fourth spot with a cumulative fee of $290 million, while the world’s leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin ranked fifth with cumulative fees of $239 million.

The astronomical increase in Ethereum fees was driven by the memecoin frenzy between April and early June. The primary reason was the launch of the meme token Pepe on the Ethereum network on April 15. Shortly after its release, the memecoin experienced a significant surge in trading volume, driving up its value.

Of interest: Celsius Makes Large Altcoin Transfers to Buy BTC and ETH According to on-chain data provider Nansen, the number of PEPE holders surpassed 54,000 in just two weeks. With its addition to Binance’s Innovation Zone, the memecoin’s market cap exceeded $1 billion. As PEPE trading increased, on-chain activity on the Ethereum network also surged. According to data from Dune Analytics, the average transaction fee on the network reached its highest level since May 2022.

On May 5, the high volume of PEPE trading on Ethereum pushed the average transaction fee to its highest level in a year at 142 GWEI. However, as the trading volume of the token declined, transaction fees on the Ethereum network started to decrease. At the time of writing, it stood at 23 GWEI, marking an 84% drop from the peak on May 5.

Ethereum Lags in Daily User Activity

Despite having the highest number of users paying the highest fees in the past six months, Ethereum lags behind in terms of daily user activity compared to four other projects, according to data from Token Terminal.

According to the on-chain data provider, Tron takes the lead with a cumulative 1.6 million daily active user count. It is closely followed by BNB Chain with 1.4 million daily active users. Bitcoin ranks third with 622,000 daily active users. Layer 2 scaling platform Polygon follows with 366,000 daily active users, while Ethereum ranks fifth with a daily active user count of 309,000.