Bitcoin's Low Active Addresses Mask Growing Role as Reserve Asset

The state of active addresses across major cryptocurrencies is revealing four distinct narratives, according to Alphractal founder Joao Wedson. Bitcoin's count has dropped significantly compared to previous major cycles, despite its price remaining above historical levels.

This trend does not necessarily indicate weaker usage, Wedson explains, as investors now tend to hold for longer and move coins less frequently. Instead, ETFs, custodians, exchanges, and the Lightning Network are being used more often.

Ethereum's network activity has accelerated, with active addresses nearing 1 million, even with a significant share of the ecosystem operating on Layer 2 networks. This trend suggests that Ethereum remains highly relevant as financial infrastructure.

Tron, meanwhile, recorded over 4 million active addresses, driven largely by payments and stablecoins, particularly USDT. Its network has become a major infrastructure layer for transferring digital dollars.

Cardano, however, has witnessed its activity fall sharply since 2021 and remains at very low levels compared to its own history. Wedson notes that on-chain activity offers a clearer indication of whether people are actually using a blockchain, as price can increase due to narratives, liquidity, and speculation.