ETH Price Lags Behind Growing Network Activity
Ethereum's network activity is on the rise, but this hasn't yet translated to higher prices for ETH. According to two reports from CryptoQuant, Ethereum use and staking are increasing, but weaker institutional demand and lower exchange activity may slow down price growth in the short term.
The Coinbase Premium Index is still negative at -0.0833, indicating that $ETH is cheaper on Coinbase than on Binance. This suggests that U.S. investors and institutions are buying less ETH compared to traders in other markets.
On-chain metrics show a widening gap between Ethereum's on-chain activity and exchange participation. Over the past 90 days, new smart contract deployments rose by 82.3%, median transaction tips more than doubled, and median token transfer volumes increased by 50-80% compared to quarterly averages.
However, exchange metrics continue to weaken, with aggregate exchange netflows falling to 354% below their 90-day baseline. Binance is also seeing weak inflows of stablecoin, with stablecoin net flows remaining 120% below their 90-day average.