Ethereum Network Booming, But Its Underlying Asset Still Lags Behind

Ethereum's network has seen significant growth in recent years, but its underlying asset has not kept pace. According to on-chain data, the Ethereum blockchain is currently processing more activity than ever before, with layer-1 generating over $88 million in Real Economic Value (REV) during Q2.

Despite this progress, the value of ETH remains below $2,000, and it's still 60% away from its all-time high. Analyst Tanaka notes that Ethereum's network is handling significantly more activity than it did during its proof-of-work years, with Ethereum rollups processing around 1,270 user operations per second.

However, the value of ETH has not increased accordingly, and the analyst questions how much of this growing activity ultimately benefits ETH holders. The focus has shifted from 'more users leading to more fees and more ETH burn' to tokenized finance, with the value of Real-World Assets (RWAs) on Ethereum exceeding $17 billion.

The analyst remains optimistic about ETH's near- and long-term future, especially since Ethereum has already solved its scaling problem. They will continue to hold and accumulate ETH as institutions increasingly hold the underlying asset as reserve collateral for the Ethereum ecosystem.