Ethereum has seen a significant resurgence in developer activity, even though its price performance remains lackluster. Ethereum analyst Joseph Young reveals that the network deployed a staggering 8.7 million smart contracts in just one quarter. In his latest post on X, Young stated that consistent growth in contract deployments over several quarters is challenging to artificially boost, indicating that the current trend signifies authentic, organic demand rather than fleeting speculation. The surge was primarily attributed to the swift growth of rollups and Layer 2 networks, coupled with increased activity in real-world asset issuance, stablecoins, and wallet infrastructure, which includes intent-based systems.
The data holds significant weight considering Ethereum’s recent developments. Contract deployments have been on a significant downward trajectory throughout 2024 and into a substantial portion of 2025. In 2024, quarterly deployments faced challenges in surpassing 1.5 million, with the last quarter of the year recording just over 528,000 new contracts, marking the lowest level since 2017. In 2025, we saw a significant drop in deployments, plummeting from almost 6 million in Q1 to just 3.1 million by Q3.
In light of recent developments, the current surge marks a definitive turnaround, elevating the total lifetime contracts deployed on Ethereum to approximately 91.7 million. The figure marks an all-time high, surpassing the previous quarterly record of approximately 6 million contracts established in the second quarter of 2021. In a broader indication of revitalized network activity, Ethereum has experienced an uptick in on-chain usage while costs continue to decline. Data shown that the mainnet recently achieved a remarkable milestone, processing approximately 2.2 million transactions in just one day, setting yet another new record.
Meanwhile, average transaction fees have decreased to about $0.17. This stands in stark contrast to May 2022, a time when transaction fees frequently surpassed $200. In 2025, protocol upgrades such as Pectra and Fusaka have significantly enhanced validator efficiency and raised the gas limit, enabling Ethereum to manage increased activity while reducing costs. Furthermore, it is reported that total transfer counts surged to approximately 1.06 million on December 29, marking a peak not observed since October 2023. The metric exhibited heightened volatility in the final quarter of 2025, diverging from the relatively stable activity observed earlier in the year. The increase in transfers has occurred despite ETH’s price staying beneath its annual peaks.