Ethereum Layer-1 Sets New Records With 2.2 Million Daily Transactions

Ethereum Layer-1 Activity Reaches a Historic Peak

Ethereum  has reached a major on-chain milestone, recording 2.2 million Layer-1 transactions in a single day, the highest daily total ever observed on the mainnet. This surge marks a defining moment for the network, highlighting its growing capacity to process large volumes of activity while maintaining historically low transaction costs.

The data reflects a sharp rebound in base-layer usage at a time when many analysts believed most activity would permanently shift to Layer-2 networks. Instead, Ethereum’s core blockchain is proving it can scale efficiently without sacrificing decentralization or security.

Key Network Statistics Behind the Record

Several performance metrics underline why this milestone is analytically significant:

· Daily L1 transactions: ~2.2 million (all-time high)

· Average transaction fee: ~$0.17

· Estimated gas used per day: Over 120 billion gas units

· Average block time: ~12 seconds

· Blocks produced daily: ~7,200

Compared to the 2021 bull market peak, when daily transactions hovered around 1.6-1.8 million with average fees exceeding $50, the current data shows higher throughput at over 99% lower cost. This is a structural improvement, not a temporary anomaly.

What’s Driving the Surge in On-Chain Transactions

The increase in Ethereum L1 transactions is being fueled by multiple demand sources:

· Decentralized finance activity, including swaps, liquid staking, and collateral management

·  NFT minting and transfers, particularly low-cost batch mints

·  Stablecoin settlements, which now account for a large share of daily transfers

· Smart-contract interactions from gaming and social dApps

Notably, stablecoin transfers alone represent an estimated 35-40% of daily Ethereum L1 transactions, emphasizing Ethereum’s role as a global settlement layer rather than just a speculative platform.

Protocol Upgrades Improve Efficiency at Scale

Ethereum’s recent performance gains are closely tied to protocol-level optimizations rolled out throughout 2025. Gas limit increases per block have expanded the network’s raw capacity, allowing more transactions to fit into each block without congestion.

Validator efficiency improvements and execution-layer optimizations have also reduced wasted gas, meaning users are paying less even during periods of heavy usage. From an analytics standpoint, Ethereum is now processing more transactions per unit of gas than at any point in its history.

Layer-1 vs Layer-2: A Shifting Balance

While Layer-2 solutions continue to grow, Ethereum’s L1 resurgence suggests a new equilibrium rather than competition. Layer-2 networks currently process an estimated 5-7x more transactions than L1, but Ethereum remains the final settlement and security anchor for those systems.

Lower L1 fees reduce the cost of rollup settlement, indirectly benefiting Layer-2 users as well. This creates a reinforcing feedback loop where high L1 efficiency strengthens the entire Ethereum scaling stack.

Economic Impact on Ethereum’s Network Health

From a macro analytics perspective, higher transaction volume with lower fees has mixed but largely positive effects:

· User accessibility increases, encouraging broader adoption

· Validator revenue stabilizes through higher volume, despite lower per-transaction fees

· ETH burn rate moderates, reducing deflationary pressure but improving network sustainability

Daily ETH burned from transaction fees currently averages 30-40% lower than 2023 levels, even with higher activity evidence of structural efficiency gains.

Forward Outlook: Can Ethereum Sustain This Growth?

If current trends hold, Ethereum could consistently average over 2 million L1 transactions per day in 2026, a level once considered unrealistic without sharding. Upcoming upgrades are expected to further optimize execution and data availability, potentially pushing theoretical capacity even higher.

From an analytical standpoint, this milestone confirms a critical narrative shift: Ethereum is no longer scaling “in theory,” but in live production, under real demand.

As adoption deepens across finance, gaming, and digital payments, Ethereum’s Layer-1 is increasingly positioned as a high-throughput, low-cost global settlement engine one that just proved it can handle record-breaking demand.