Key Moments
- Ethereum averaged 327,000 new wallets per day last week, with a record 393,000 new wallets created on January 11, 2026.
- Total non-empty ETH wallets climbed to 172.9 million, marking a new all-time high and indicating accelerating user and institutional participation.
- ETH rose 7.5% to $3,330 as lower fees following the Fusaka upgrade and higher stablecoin transfer volumes supported network usage.
Record Wallet Growth Fuels Ethereum Adoption
Ethereum network activity surged in early January 2026, with new address creation reaching unprecedented levels. On-chain analytics provider Santiment reported that the Ethereum blockchain saw an average of 327,000 new wallets created per day over the past week.
The strongest daily reading occurred on Sunday, January 11, when new wallet creation exceeded 393,000, setting a fresh all-time high. This spike pushed the number of non-empty ETH wallets to 172.9 million, a record figure that points to broadening adoption across users and institutions.
During this period, Ether traded around $3,330, gaining 7.5% over 24 hours after fluctuating between $3,068 and $3,292 in the prior week.
| Metric | Value | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Average new ETH wallets per day | 327,000 | Past week |
| Record single-day new wallets | 393,000+ | Sunday, January 11, 2026 |
| Total non-empty ETH wallets | 172.9 million | All-time high |
| ETH price | $3,330 | Up 7.5% in 24 hours |
Santiment highlighted the acceleration in a public update, noting: “BREAKING: Ethereum’s new wallet growth has reached new all-time high levels. Over the past week, crypto’s #2 market cap has seen an average of 327,100 new $ETH wallets created per day, including a 393,600 day Sunday (the highest ever). There can be several reasons attributed…”
Fusaka Upgrade Cuts Fees and Streamlines Layer 2 Activity
The latest surge in user onboarding aligns with the impact of Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade, which went live on December 3, 2025. The upgrade sharply reduced transaction fees by raising the block gas limit from 45 million to 150 million. It also introduced PeerDAS data availability sampling and Verkle Trees to enhance data efficiency.
These technical changes optimized how Layer 2 solutions interact with the mainnet and how rollup transactions are posted back to Ethereum. As a result, applications, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and non-fungible token (NFT) platforms experienced cheaper and more efficient operations.
Analysts at Santiment attribute a significant portion of the new user inflows to these lower costs, as reduced fees have historically been a critical hurdle for broader participation.
Stablecoin Activity and Sentiment Support On-Chain Usage
Stablecoin transfer volumes on Ethereum in late 2025 underscored robust usage for payments and settlements, helping attract participants interested in holding and transacting tokenized assets. Market sentiment among ETH holders shifted from negative to positive in mid-December, coinciding with increased retail sign-ups and renewed interest in DeFi and NFT activity toward year-end.
More than half of the total ETH supply is now locked in staking contracts. Of this, 77 million ETH resides in the Beacon Deposit, contributing to network security and reflecting long-term holder commitment.
| ETH Staking and Exchange Holdings | Amount |
|---|---|
| ETH staked in Beacon Deposit | 77 million ETH |
| ETH held by Binance | 4 million ETH |
| ETH held by Coinbase | 2.3 million ETH |
The wallet expansion has taken place while ETH has been trading largely sideways, suggesting that the recent growth is being driven more by utility and real usage than by short-term speculative flows. Data from Nansen indicates that centralized exchanges such as Binance, with 4 million ETH, and Coinbase, with 2.3 million ETH, continue to hold sizable balances on behalf of their users.
Network Momentum and Remaining Challenges
The combination of record wallet creation, elevated stablecoin transfers, and the post-Fusaka efficiency gains underscores strong momentum across the Ethereum ecosystem. Yet, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has emphasized that achieving genuine financial autonomy will require further progress in decentralized stablecoins.
He has highlighted the need to reduce dependence on the US Dollar and to enhance oracle security in order to strengthen the resilience and decentralization of stablecoin infrastructure on Ethereum.
Additional Information
If you would like to read more articles like this, visit DeFi Planet and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and CoinMarketCap Community.
Take control of your crypto portfolio with MARKETS PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.
TradingPedia.com is a financial media specialized in providing daily news and education covering Forex, equities and commodities. Our academies for traders cover 
