Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), has had a pretty wild ride in 2025. After ending 2024 at around $4,000, ETH nosedived over the next four months, hitting a three-year low of $1,400 in mid-April. But ETH not only bounced back, but it climbed to an all-time high of $4,831 in the last week of August, fueled by spot ETFs and surging institutional interest. Ethereum network activity also skyrocketed, reaching one of the highest monthly figures ever.
According to data presented by CryptoPresales.com, Ethereum active addresses hit 8.7 million in August, the third-highest number on record.
Ethereum Active Addresses Just 4% Under the May 2021 Peak of 9.1 Million
Just like Bitcoin, Ethereum has seen major swings in its network activity over the past seven years. Sudden multi-year highs have been followed by unexpected dips and declines, reflecting the unpredictable nature of the crypto space. This year was no exception, with ETH network activity slumping by almost 20% in the first three months, only to skyrocket in the second half of the year.
After reaching over 7.5 million monthly active addresses in December, the ETH network activity dropped to 6.1 million in March, reflecting reduced demand for risky assets amid rising pressure from high interest rates. Without strong ETF inflows or institutional support at that time, ETH struggled to find momentum. But things changed drastically in the second half of the year.
ETH surged as spot ETFs and institutional investors poured in fresh demand, while rising network activity and cheaper transaction costs boosted confidence in Ethereum’s utility. At the same time, expectations of Fed rate cuts improved risk sentiment, helping fuel the rally.
In just four months, between March and July, the ETH price rose from roughly $3,300 to $3,700, while network activity jumped from 6.1 million to around 6.6 million monthly active addresses. But the real surge came in August. In just three weeks, the ETH price skyrocketed from $3,400 to an all-time high of $4,831, while the network reported an impressive $8.7 million active users, the third-highest figure to date.
To put that into perspective, those $8.7 million addresses represent a 22% increase year-to-date, stand 36% above the figure reported in August 2024, and are just 4% below the all-time peak of 9.1 million set in May 2021. The only other time the ETH network had more monthly active users was in January 2018, when it reached 8.8 million, only 0.6% less than last month.
Monthly Number of ETH Addresses Using Contracts Climbs to a Record 10.5 Million
While 8.7 million monthly active addresses that send or receive ETH or tokens already signal strong network activity, the number of people using Ethereum’s dApps and DeFi ecosystem is actually 20% higher.
According to Glassnode, in August alone, 10.5 million Ethereum wallets interacted with smart contracts, swapping tokens on a DEX, minting NFTs, staking, borrowing, and lending in DeFi, up 20% from January, 40% more than in August 2024, and the highest monthly number on record.
