Ethereum Surpasses Bitcoin To Become Largest Network For 'Trustless' Money Settlement

According to a metric that tracks the on-chain transfer value of blockchain networks, Ethereum recently surpassed Bitcoin to become the largest network for trustless money settlement.

What Happened: Data shows that the Ethereum blockchain is now settling more value in its native cryptocurrency, Ether (ETH) than the Bitcoin blockchain is in Bitcoin (BTC).

“They say reserve currency status is the last to fall when an economic power gets outcompeted,” says popular Ethereum proponent, Ryan Sean Adams.

Transactions on the Ethereum network continued to grow even though gas fees on Ethereum were at record high levels.

Gas fees are payments made by users of the network to validate their transactions on the network. At press time, the average transaction fee was $21.505, down slightly from its peak of $25 on February 5.

While users carrying out transactions on the network have often complained about this, Ethereum miners have largely benefited from the persistently high fees.

Why It Matters: A glassnode report revealed that total miner revenue on the Ethereum network reached an all-time high, with miners earning over $48 million at the time of writing.

Ethereum has plans to introduce EIP-1559, which is an ‘Ethereum Improvement Proposal’ that would reform Ethereum’s fee market.

Essentially, this would direct excess fee income away from miners, by burning one portion of it and returning it to ETH holders.

Once these proposals have been implemented, the network is likely to see even more user adoption. The second largest cryptocurrency by market cap reached a new all time high of $1815 earlier today.