2026-01-15 14:25:08

I looked at a set of data that is quite interesting. On January 14th, Ethereum's single-day transaction volume exceeded 2.59 million, a new historical high. On the same day, 481,481 new addresses were added. The numbers themselves are indeed impressive, but what’s more worth pondering is what is happening behind these figures.

On the surface, this can reflect the effectiveness of technological upgrades. But deeper down? Are new users really flooding in on a large scale? Or is it the activity of existing users being concentrated and released? These two scenarios lead to completely different outcomes.

Recently, the Layer2 ecosystem has been quite active, with some projects' transactions indeed shifting to sidechains. If most of these new addresses are cross-chain users or coming through Layer2 bridges, then the nature of the activity is different.

A more realistic question is—what happens after hitting a new high? How sustainable is it? Will volatility increase? Market sentiment is often prone to reversal at such nodes. We've seen many "record-breaking" data points before, only to revert to previous levels after a few weeks.

So rather than obsessing over whether this is a trend or a peak, it’s better to ask yourself: Are these new active addresses associated with actual application growth? Or are they just pulses driven by pure speculation? This will determine the sustainability moving forward.

ETH-0.56%

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0xOverleveraged

· 3h ago

It's another all-time high, or is it just data manipulation, I wonder... --- 2.59 million transactions sound impressive, but what about genuine new users? How many of the 480,000 addresses are just nested wallets? --- L2 has long been secretly transferring transaction volume. Why boast about mainnet data? --- It's always the same. Every time there's a new high, everyone gets excited, but two weeks later, we're back to square one. I'm already tired of it. --- The key is to focus on real applications, not false prosperity created by hype. --- Counting cross-chain addresses as new users? That logic is a bit... --- Market sentiment shifts and it's time to exit. This node is the easiest to harvest profits from.

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DeFiCaffeinator

· 3h ago

The data looks good, but I'm afraid it's just a pulse before hype. --- Hitting new all-time highs is common; the key is how long it can last. --- Feels like the old routine: short-term surge and then no one uses it anymore. --- For layer2, those addresses probably need to be halved; there aren't that many real new users. --- Instead of looking at trading volume, it's better to look at tVL—that's the real deal. --- Another emotional cycle, the chance of being proven wrong in a few weeks is quite high. --- It's not surprising to see an increase in new addresses; the key is whether these people stay afterward. --- Numbers driven by speculative sentiment; when the market cools down, the true nature will reveal itself.

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faded_wojak.eth

· 3h ago

2.59 million transactions sound impressive, but it still feels like the usual story—rising sharply and then falling back, an old plot. Having many new addresses doesn't necessarily mean real users; most likely, they are bots or activity generated by fake volume.

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LiquidityWizard

· 3h ago

tbh the 2.59m tx spike is giving classic bubble behavior... statistically significant? sure. but empirically speaking, 48k new addresses is literally noise if 90% are just bridge contracts doing lazy routing. seen this movie before lol

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