Ethereum posted all-time highs in the second quarter of 2026 in transaction count and throughput, staking ratio and number of holders.

On Sept. 15, blockchain media outlet CoinPost reported that on-chain data analytics platform Token Terminal assessed it as a phase of consolidation and integration after a record first quarter.

The report said Ethereum transactions in the second quarter totalled 203.9 million, up 1.7 percent from the previous quarter and up 68.4 percent from a year earlier. Throughput rose to 25.9 per second, up 0.6 percent quarter on quarter and up 68.4 percent year on year. The staking ratio rose to 32 percent, and the number of ETH holders was tallied at 312.1 million. Both were all-time highs.

Monthly active users, however, fell 30 percent from the previous quarter to 9.2 million. Total value locked (TVL) across the ecosystem fell 9.2 percent to $287.2 billion, and Ethereum's fully diluted market capitalisation fell 14.8 percent to $247.2 billion. It reflected broader market weakness.

The rise in transactions despite a drop in users is interpreted as a sign that existing users became more active. Token Terminal pointed out that transaction frequency increased even as the user base shrank. It also said the staking ratio and number of holders both set new highs as participation and holding continued despite weak prices.

Fee metrics also rebounded. Total transaction fees in the second quarter were $52.5 million, up 31.6 percent from the previous quarter. Fee growth outpaced the rise in transaction count, pushing the average fee per transaction to about $0.26 from about $0.20. It remained low compared with about $0.85 a year earlier.

Burning, tallied as revenue for the Ethereum network, rose 112.2 percent from the previous quarter to $17.1 million. The share of fees that led to supply reduction also increased to about one-third in the second quarter from about one-fifth in the first quarter. Token Terminal summed up the second quarter as a period when user numbers fell but transaction volume set a record, while the average fee and supply-reduction effect also rose.

The structure of total value locked also changed. Stablecoins totalled $183.4 billion, down 0.7 percent from the previous quarter and effectively flat, but lending fell 26.1 percent to $44.1 billion and liquid staking dropped 26.2 percent to $33.3 billion. The real-world assets (RWA) segment rose 5 percent to $16.5 billion. The share of stablecoins in the ecosystem expanded to 63.8 percent from 52.3 percent a year earlier.

Tokenised assets also continued to expand. The market capitalisation of tokenised assets on Ethereum was $203.1 billion, up 0.3 percent from the previous quarter and up 38.7 percent from a year earlier. Stablecoins accounted for 87.1 percent, or $176.8 billion. Tokenised funds totalled $20.8 billion, tokenised commodities were $4.9 billion, and tokenised equities were about $615.0 million.

In particular, tokenised funds backed by U.S. short-term Treasury bills (T-bills) posted a record quarterly average of $7.5 billion. By the end of the quarter, major funds from Franklin Templeton, Ondo Finance and BlackRock each exceeded $1 billion within the Ethereum ecosystem. JPMorgan's second tokenised money market fund, JLTXX, issued in May, grew to $682.2 million by the end of the second quarter and topped $800.0 million in early September.

Ethereum kept its lead in share by chain. Among the top five chains, Ethereum accounted for 61.6 percent of the stablecoin market, 67.6 percent of the tokenised fund market and 71.3 percent of the tokenised commodity market.

Etheralize, which is pushing Ethereum adoption among institutions, argued the quarter should be seen as a period of commitment. It said engagement from network users and investors supporting them strengthened even as ETH prices weakened. It also assessed that the effects of a strategy to lower block space costs and build long-term demand began to show up in second-quarter revenue metrics.

This quarter, Ethereum lifted transaction, staking and holding indicators at the same time despite price weakness. The combination of fewer users and expanding tokenised assets showed that network usage and the asset mix are changing.