Ethereum Settled $1.9 Trillion Transactions in Q1 of 2021

Ethereum, the second-largest blockchain network, settled about $1.9 trillion AUD ($1.5 trillion USD) in transactions within the first quarter of 2021.

Despite the congestion on Ethereum, the record today is the largest quarterly transaction volume ever settled on the blockchain, according to data from Messari, a cryptocurrency on-chain analytics platform.

Ethereum on Pace to Settled $6 Trillion Transactions in 2021

Messari’s analysis shows the quarterly transaction volume on Ethereum having dramatically increased recently. The transaction volume in Q1 of 2021 ($1.9 trillion AUD) surpasses that of the previous seven quarters combined. Based on this record, Messari predicts that about $6 trillion USD transactions will be settled on the Ethereum blockchain, including ERC-standard stablecoin transactions.

Two factors could be causing high transaction volume on Ethereum: the increase in Ether (ETH) price prompting trades, and other network usage. The former might be the primary reason for such record as ETH increased by over 150 percent within the first quarter of 2021 and 230 percent year-to-date (YTD).

Ethereum Network Usage

TRON and Binance Smart Chain (BSC) might be the leading blockchain networks in terms of daily transactions; however, Ethereum is still a big player. On Tuesday, Ethereum recorded about 1.55 million transactions, which is the highest since the network’s history. On a YTD chart, the daily transaction volume on Ethereum is up by over 32 percent.

Ethereum has been battling network congestion for quite a while. Coupling that with relatively slow transactions and high fees, some projects and users have left Ethereum in favour of alternative blockchains. This scalability issue might be resolved with the complete deployment of Ethereum 2.0 – a major upgrade that apparently will not be completed until the next two to three years.