Ethereum Q1 results prove a healthy ecosystem, and why this year is key

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Analyst James Wang published a detailed summary of Ethereum’s Q1 performance that shows immense achievements.
Ethereum has dominated the market for the better part of the year, most recently both outperforming and taking away Bitcoin’s market dominance.

On Monday, former Ark Invest analyst James Wang published Ethereum’s financial report, highlighting different data points. Although it was already clear to anyone who follows the market that the second largest cryptocurrency was having a very successful year, the report highlights other achievements mainly on its blockchain.

Ethereum’s native coin ETH has gained nearly 80 percent in value over the last few months. Last week, it set an ATH of $4,400 before retracting. During its rise, the largest altcoin in the market has taken away a lot of Bitcoin’s dominance. Having started the year with a market dominance of roughly 60 percent, Bitcoin has fallen to 40 percent. Ethereum on the other hand has steadily climbed from the 10 percent levels to reach nearly 20 percent.

Ethereum’s rise has seen some analysts suggest that it will break away from its ‘altcoin’ status and join Bitcoin as the most elite coin. This is a compelling argument looking at the asset’s market cap compared to Binance Coin (BNB) which is third and closest to reaching it. At the time of press, ETH market cap stands at $400 Billion. BNB, on the other hand, is roughly $80 Billion. Interestingly, analysts expect Etheruem to continue pushing higher and reach $10K highs ahead of the ETH 2.0 upgrade.

Ethereum financial results

A comparison of Ethereum’s Q1 2020 and Q1 2021 shows how quickly the project has made a turnaround. For starters, transactions volume in Q1 2020 stood at $33 billion. In 2020, this has skyrocketed to $713 billion, a 2,065 percent increase. Another significant jump is in DeFi. The total value locked (TVL) reached $52 billion, a 6,400 percent growth from last year’s $0.8 Billion. Stablecoin volume doubled from $20 billion to $40 billion.

Ethereum isn’t just a crypto currency. It’s a software platform with users, revenue, and applications.

If you cover software like AWS, MSFT, SNOW, or TWLO you should cover Ethereum ($ETH). To get started, check out its Q1 ‘earnings’ results:https://t.co/8ZrEkQRFke

— James Wang (@draecomino) May 17, 2021

The blockchain’s daily active addresses have increased 71 percent to around 607,000 from 354,000 in Q1 2020. Additionally, DEX volume also shot up from a mere $2.3 billion to $177 billion signifying a more than 7,500 percent increase. By far the most significant change, NFTs, sales rose from $0.7 million to $396 million, an increase of more than 55,000 percent.

Although most data points show a healthy ecosystem, the report has two notable stains. The transaction fees have risen by 20,158 percent. Similarly, the median transaction fee has risen to $7.63 from $0.06 recorded in 2020. The high fees have seen the project face heavy competition from rivals like Binance Smart Chain and seen it lose market dominance, especially in the DeFi market. However, with the upcoming upgrade, the blockchain is expected to curb fees.

Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation stated in the report;