A recent report from Bitwise shows that Ethereum network fees dropped by 51% compared to last year, totaling around $64 million in the second quarter. This happened despite an increase in transactions and a record number of users staking their Ether.
According to the asset manager, the decrease wasn’t due to people losing interest, but because transaction fees (blockspace) became lower and more readily available. In fact, when calculated in Ethereum (ETH), revenue increased this quarter – something that hasn’t happened in over a year.
Ethereum Activity Rises Even as Revenue Drops 51%, Bitwise Finds
Ethereum generated around $131 million in revenue during the April-June period of 2025. However, by the same time in 2026, that figure had fallen significantly to approximately $64 million.
Ethereum saw a significant increase in activity last quarter, processing 203.9 million transactions compared to 121.1 million the year before. The network also became faster, handling 26 transactions per second, an improvement from 15. This boost in performance was partly due to an increase in the block gas limit to 60 million.
The latest report highlights a key trend this quarter: even though more people used the service, revenue decreased.
In my research, we found that the reason for this difference comes down to how these networks are built. They’ve been designed to make blockspace more readily available and affordable, which ultimately lowers the cost for each transaction users make.
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The Dollar Drop Was Partly a Price Effect
While revenue in US dollars didn’t tell the whole story, when measured in Ethereum (ETH), revenue actually increased from 27,670 ETH in the first quarter to 31,166 ETH in the second quarter.
This was the first time sales had gone up in over a year. Overall revenue decreased, primarily due to a drop in the price of Ethereum (ETH) during that time.
As a crypto investor, I’ve been watching staking really take off. The amount of Ether being staked hit an all-time high – over 40.2 million ETH! That’s about a third of all Ether in existence, and it seems like big institutions are still adding to that number.
This trend wasn’t limited to Ethereum. Solana also saw a surge in activity, handling almost a record number of transactions (9.8 billion), but its total revenue in dollars actually decreased.
As an analyst, I’ve been watching Avalanche’s growth closely and the latest numbers are really interesting. The C-Chain processed 236 million transactions recently – that’s a significant jump from the 58 million we saw a year ago! What’s also notable is that transaction fees have actually *decreased*, but this isn’t because fewer people are using the network; it’s due to improvements in how efficiently Avalanche handles traffic and reduces congestion.
2026-07-24 11:02