Ethereum Q1 Transactions Hit Record as Fees Plunge, Tokenized Assets Top $200 Billion

Ethereum is a leading infrastructure platform for smart contracts and onchain finance. In recent years, it has expanded capacity across its mainnet and layer-2 networks, increasing throughput while lowering user costs. The network supports stablecoins, decentralized finance and institutional tokenized funds, making transaction activity and asset values key measures of whether blockchain technology can achieve large-scale adoption in finance.

A Token Terminal report showed that both active Ethereum users and transaction counts reached all-time highs from January through March 2026. Scaling upgrades drove a 48% plunge in transaction fees. Over the same period, the total value of assets including onchain stablecoins and institutional tokenized funds exceeded $200 billion, pointing to a structural shift toward higher usage and lower network fees.