Artemis Terminal, in its data from September 15, notes that Bitcoin has more daily active users than Ethereum.
Ethereum might be the king of smart contracts and the world’s leading hub for decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) activity, but on-chain data suggests Bitcoin is ahead in user engagement, interpreted by the number of daily active users, and network activity is at acceptable and healthy levels, as measured by the number of daily confirmed transactions.
Bitcoin Leads Ethereum in Daily Active Addresses
According to Artemis Terminal data from September 15, Bitcoin, despite being predominantly a transactional layer, allowing peer-to-peer (P2P) value transfer between addresses, has more daily active users than Ethereum.
This observation is even as Ethereum serves as a conduit of value, as assets can be moved, just like in Bitcoin, and a smart contract platform to deploy automated, trustless decentralized applications (DApps).
Some, like Uniswap, a decentralized exchange (DEX), process billions of transactions each month. On September 15, Bitcoin had more than 800,000 daily active addresses (DAA), more than double that of Ethereum, which stood at just over 378,000. The only time there was a slight change was on September 13, when over 1 million addresses went live on Ethereum.
Then, the number of DAAs in Bitcoin also fell to around 743,000. However, Ethereum’s DAA has fallen sharply, while Bitcoin has maintained an upward trajectory since late August. During this time, Ethereum’s DAA has been fluctuating a lot, as evidenced by the ups and downs from September 13 to today.
Ethereum Processes Over 1 Million Transactions Every Day
Ethereum shines for the number of daily transactions processed. As of September 15, the smart contract platform had processed more than 1 million transactions while Bitcoin lagged, confirming less than 600,000.
Even at that level, Ethereum has processed less than half of what it did on September 13, when the network processed more than 2.3 million transactions.
On the other hand, daily Bitcoin transactions have remained stable, while Ethereum transactions have, on average, increased over the past three months, as data from Artemis Terminal show.
Artemis Terminal DAA data and daily transaction count are important metrics that on-chain analysts use to analyze the level of engagement and health of public Blockchains.
Over the past 18 months, activity has slowed rapidly as asset prices fall in the crypto winter. Ethereum’s drop from around $5,000 in late November 2021 to as low as $1,500 in 2022 negatively affected DeFi and NFT activity.
According to DeFiLlama, the total value locked (TVL) of DeFi protocols has stabilized below $50 billion, down from $180 billion in 2021. Meanwhile, trading volume has plummeted by more than 90 %, dragging down the value of NFT-related projects, including Immutable. X and Apecoin. As an example, the APE is down 96% from the peaks.
Is Ethereum Still Attractive to Investors?
Ethereum remains attractive to institutional investors, as seen in the growing interest in spot exchange-traded funds. Furthermore, the Ethereum network plays a central role in numerous Blockchains due to its Ethereum Virtual Machine Network. As a result, Ethereum’s prospects appear largely optimistic, supported by the network’s significant valuation, liquidity, and strong trading activity.
However, the Ether price will continue its decline in the coming weeks, possibly approaching the next support level at around $1,500. Additionally, the cryptocurrency is facing significant selling pressure as death crosses form on both the weekly and daily charts between the 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
By Audy Castaneda
