Ethereum has fallen 28 percent so far this year, but DeFi, stablecoin and staking indicators have expanded, drawing renewed attention to a long-term buying view.

Cointelegraph reported on Friday that the Ethereum network currently holds about $43 billion in DeFi liquidity and more than $165 billion in stablecoins. It also maintains about 55 percent of tokenised assets tracked across public blockchains.

Token Terminal data also showed Ethereum's share of the tokenised exchange-traded fund market at 76.9 percent. The market's total capitalisation exceeded $400 million. The data highlighted that Ethereum's share in on-chain financial infrastructure remains high despite price weakness.

Demand for staking has not declined. Network data showed staked ETH at about 39.1 million tokens, rising to about 32 percent of total supply. Active validators verifying this exceeded 896,000. The staking entry queue held more than 3.49 million ETH, pushing the wait time beyond 60 days, while the withdrawal queue stood at 7,424 ETH.

The rise in the queue was described as showing that large amounts of ETH continue to move into staking even as prices are weak. Crypto analyst Tanaka said, based on such on-chain share data, that the case for long-term accumulation of Ethereum remains valid.

Inflows into wallets seen as long-term holders were also confirmed. CryptoQuant data showed 248,400 ETH flowing into accumulation addresses on May 20. That was the biggest one-day inflow since Jan. 6. These wallets are often associated with long-term holders with limited selling activity.

Market participants were split on price ranges. Trader Crypto Bullet said weekly charts show ETH staying in a long-term accumulation range between $1,000 and $5,000. He described the past several years as a period when buyers slowly built positions ahead of a larger trend. He also said ETH could retest the $1,000 to $1,300 range, calling it potentially the last capitulation zone before the next cycle expansion. He set a long-term upper target of $7,700 to $14,000 between 2027 and 2029.

Ethereum's price trend remains weak, but it is still maintaining its status as a core network in on-chain finance, tokenised assets and demand for staking, the report said. It added that a key point to watch will be whether accumulation and long-term holding continue regardless of short-term price swings.