The Ethereum network has experienced a remarkable surge in user activity. Analysts at Santiment reported that, alongside a revival in price dynamics, the number of new wallets has reached an all-time high.

📈 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 327.1K new $ETH wallets created per day, including a 393.6K day Sunday (the highest ever).

📊 There can be several reasons attributed… pic.twitter.com/zD1YcOV3wO

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 13, 2026

In the past week, an average of 327,100 new addresses were created daily, peaking on January 11 with 393,600 new wallets. The total number of addresses with a non-zero balance has reached 172.9 million.

Santiment experts identified several key drivers of this growth:

  • Fusaka. The upgrade, activated in early December 2025, reduced fees and improved data processing from layer two networks;
  • stablecoins. In Q4 2025, the volume of transfers in "stablecoins" on Ethereum reached $8 trillion;
  • shift in sentiment. Indicators suggest a transition from negative to a neutral-positive market perception. Retail investors are returning to the DeFi, NFT, and gaming sectors.

The influx of users has coincided with a decrease in gas fees. On January 13, the network processed a record 2.1 million transactions.

Source: Etherscan.

The average fee was just $0.15. A year ago, a transaction cost around $11, and during peak periods in 2021-2022, gas fees exceeded $200.

This positive on-chain momentum has reflected in prices: Ethereum tested the $3350 level. At the time of writing, the asset is trading at $3340 (+6.9% in 24 hours).

15-minute ETH/USDT chart from Binance. Source: TradingView.

Major Players Increase Positions

Institutional investors are also showing activity. BitMine has added an additional 186,560 ETH (~$625 million) to staking.

Tom Lee(@fundstrat)'s #Bitmine staked another 186,560 $ETH($624.8M) in the past 8 hours.

In total, #Bitmine has now staked 1,530,784 $ETH($5.13B).https://t.co/P684j5YQaG pic.twitter.com/cgeVvUPy7d

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) January 14, 2026

The firm now manages 1.53 million staked ETH worth approximately $5.13 billion, accounting for 4% of all coins staked on Beacon Chain. The company holds over 4.07 million ETH in total.

Top 10 largest Ethereum holders among public companies. Source: Strategic ETH Reserve.

BitMine's chairman, Tom Lee, described the end of 2025 as a "mini-crypto winter" and predicted a market recovery in 2026.

Recall that MN Trading founder Michael van de Poppe stated that the theory of Ethereum's "death" is unfounded.