The global crypto market has started the week on a strong note, with total market cap rising around 5% to $2.93 trillion. Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana are all posting sharp gains as buying pressure returns.
Overall sentiment is also strong, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index at 76, showing high risk greed among traders.
So, why is the crypto market rallying today?
Oil Prices Slide as Trump Calls Off Houthi StrikesOne of the main reasons behind today’s crypto rally is the sharp drop in oil prices. Brent crude fell 2.80% to around $101 a barrel, easing fears of higher inflation pressure.
The decline came after U.S. President Donald Trump called off planned strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen at the last minute. The Pentagon had earlier prepared for the operation after a request from the Saudi crown prince, but the strikes were cancelled before they began.
Trump decided not to launch U.S. strikes on the Houthis in Yemen, reversing course after the Pentagon had already prepared for the operation.
After Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged him to intervene, Trump ordered the Pentagon to prepare airstrikes. But by Sunday, he… pic.twitter.com/1LqNwSzTwS
— Clash Report (@clashreport) September 21, 2026 Following the decision, Yemen’s Houthis said they would not attack U.S. vessels in the Red Sea. The statement further reduced concerns about a wider conflict that could disrupt oil supplies.
Short Liquidations Add Fuel to the Crypto RallyAnother major reason behind today’s crypto rally is the wave of short liquidations. Over the past 24 hours, 115,490 traders were liquidated, with total liquidations reaching $769.80 million. Short positions accounted for an 85% share of the losses, around $647 million.
Bitcoin led the liquidations with $421.5 million, while Ethereum followed with $180.31 million. In the latest hour alone, liquidations reached $634.62 million, with about 84% coming from short positions.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Solana SurgeFollowing the surge, Bitcoin climbed to $85,000, its highest level since January, gaining 5.57%.
Ethereum also jumped 5.80% to $2,720, while XRP surged 8.58% to $1.49. Solana followed with a 7.55% gain, reaching $116.26.
Are Altcoins Outperforming Bitcoin?Bitcoin dominance has risen slightly to 58.94%, while the CMC Altcoin Season Index stands at 51/100. The index has climbed 35% over the past week, showing stronger interest in altcoins, although it remains below 75.
As Bitcoin led, capital rotated into higher-beta altcoins. Tokens like NEAR Protocol have gained around 20%, while TAO, SUI, AVAX, HBAR, and ADA have all risen more than 10%.
The rally now faces another test with the U.S. PCE inflation report due September 26. Continued weakness in oil prices could support crypto if it helps ease inflation concerns.
Story Ends Here
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Key Takeaways ETH is currently changing hands near $2,664 following a successful breach of its September consolidation zone. The cryptocurrency surged past the critical $2,560 threshold and successfully maintained support during a pullback test. Technical analysis reveals price action touching $2,700, positioning $2,760 as the subsequent key resistance level. The Relative Strength Index stands at 67.16, indicating robust bullish momentum without entering overbought territory. The MACD indicator has flipped bullish once more, reinforcing the validity of the current upward move. On September 21, Ethereum (ETH) climbed above the $2,600 mark after successfully penetrating a resistance barrier that had limited upside movement throughout the previous month.
Ethereum (ETH) Price The digital asset began the session near $2,645 and peaked at $2,700 during intraday trading. At the time of analysis, ETH was hovering around $2,664.
This recent price action represents a continuation of Ethereum’s rebound from the June trough around $1,500, with the daily timeframe displaying consecutive higher lows since that period.
An ascending trendline originating from the June bottom continues to hold firm. This support structure has underpinned the overall recovery trajectory throughout the summer months and into September.
Late August witnessed significant upward momentum for Ethereum, with prices advancing from the sub-$1,900 region to above $2,300. Following this surge, the token entered a narrower trading range before executing the current breakout.
Key Resistance Level Successfully Breached The most significant chart development centers on the decisive move above the $2,560 price zone. ETH successfully cleared this barrier and has continued trading above it since.
Market analyst Ali Charts characterized this price action as a validated breakout. Through a post on X, he noted that Ethereum had cleared the $2,560 level, confirmed it as new support through a successful retest, and was now advancing toward higher targets.
According to Ali Charts, his focus has shifted to $2,760 as the next significant resistance zone, contingent on the breakout pattern holding firm.
This target lies beyond the current session high of $2,700. Consequently, a sustained move through $2,700 would bring the $2,760 zone into immediate focus for traders.
The previous resistance band spanning $2,500 to $2,560 has now transitioned into the primary support region on the chart. Maintaining price action above this range would preserve the integrity of the breakout formation.
Technical Indicators Signal Growing Strength The momentum profile for Ethereum has shown notable improvement. The daily Relative Strength Index currently registers 67.16.
Source: TradingView This positioning keeps RSI beneath the widely monitored 70 threshold that typically signals overbought conditions. The current reading demonstrates strengthening buying activity while avoiding excessive bullish sentiment.
The MACD is also trending upward again after the September consolidation period. The MACD line currently sits around 80.47, while the signal line reads 75.22.
The histogram has shifted back into positive territory at approximately 5.25. This development indicates that near-term momentum has gained strength in tandem with the breakout move.
The broader chart perspective shows Ethereum still trading beneath the levels observed in early 2026, when ETH approached the $3,000 mark.
At present, ETH maintains its position above the $2,560 breakout zone after touching $2,700, with Ali Charts monitoring $2,760 as the next meaningful upside objective.
According to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, there has been a significant increase in Ethereum (ETH) withdrawals via Binance. The exchange’s average monthly ETH withdrawal count exceeding 90,000 indicates that medium- and long-term accumulation activity has reached its highest level in the last three years.
Darkforth reported that the monthly average of ETH withdrawals on Binance has risen to its highest level since 2023. This level is approximately double the figure recorded at the beginning of the year.
In its analysis of on-chain data, Darkfost stated that the large amount of ETH being moved out of cryptocurrency exchanges is noteworthy in terms of investor behavior. The analyst noted that withdrawals from exchanges could be linked to the transfer of purchased Ethereum assets to personal wallets or other external addresses, suggesting a tendency towards longer-term holdings.
The transfer of assets from exchanges to personal or external wallets may indicate that investors prefer to store those assets in addresses under their own control rather than holding them on exchanges for short-term trading. However, exchange exits alone do not definitively prove that investors intend to hold assets long-term.
Withdrawals from Binance reaching a three-year high have raised concerns about shifts in Ethereum investor custody preferences. Whether withdrawal activity will remain at similar levels in the future could be a key indicator for assessing medium- and long-term market behavior.
*This is not investment advice.
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TLDR: ETH broke above its $2,550–$2,575 resistance zone on September 20 and now uses it as support. ETH climbed from $1,510 to $2,650 in three months, a gain of more than 75%, according to Darkfost. Binance’s monthly average of ETH withdrawal transactions topped 90,000, the highest level since 2023. Institutional ETF inflows topped $10 billion, and Q3 is Ethereum’s second-best quarter on record. Ethereum price action turned bullish as ETH broke above its $2,550–$2,575 resistance zone on September 20. The level now acts as support after ETH successfully retested it.
ETH trades at $2,637.24 at the time of writing, up 0.41% over 24 hours and 4.60% across seven days. Trading volume stands at roughly $11.4 billion, according to market data.
Source: Coingecko
Market participants now track $2,760 as the next target, while some traders point to $3,000 and beyond.
ETH Clears Resistance and Retests Support Analyst Ali Charts shared his view of the move on X. His post labeled the setup a confirmed Ethereum breakout.
He stated that ETH broke above $2,560, retested it as support, and is now pushing higher. He noted that the breakout is holding, and he is watching $2,760 as the next major target.
Separate market commentary places the resistance band between $2,550 and $2,575. That zone had capped ETH before the breakout. Ali Charts’ $2,560 level sits inside that band.
The Ethereum price moved through the range on September 20. As a result, the former ceiling now acts as support.
Meanwhile, other traders are eyeing $3,000 as the next level after $2,760. Some predict $3,500 by the end of October.
Others expect new all-time highs by year-end. Each of these targets sits above current trading levels. The forecasts vary in both price and timeframe.
Quarterly Gains and ETF Inflows Ethereum price gains this quarter rank second-best on record. Reports attribute the gains to clean technical breakouts. Rising DeFi activity has also supported the advance. Together, these factors shaped the token’s third-quarter performance.
In addition, institutional demand has remained visible throughout the quarter. Institutional ETF inflows have topped $10 billion. The report lists these flows among the drivers of the quarter’s gains. That total reflects sustained institutional participation.
On-chain analyst Darkfost outlined the scale of the rise on Cryptoquant. The Ethereum price moved from $1,510 to $2,650 in three months, a gain above 75%. That move cleared April’s high and broke the prevailing trend.
Binance Withdrawals Point to Accumulation Darkfost also pointed to rising accumulation on Binance. His post described the buildup as silent and at a three-year high.
The monthly average of ETH withdrawal transactions from the exchange has surpassed 90,000. That is the highest level since 2023.
The figure is double the level recorded at the start of the year. The increase came fairly suddenly, he noted.
Withdrawals of this kind often suggest investors are moving coins into private custody. Such behavior is associated with medium to long-term holding.
Compared with Bitcoin, ETH has taken a slight lead in this trend. In contrast, Bitcoin has yet to establish itself durably above its May high. Darkfost added that the Ethereum price trend is currently stronger than Bitcoin’s.
As Ethereum approaches $2,700, Bitmine — the world’s largest Ethereum treasury firm — has narrowed the unrealized loss on its total ETH holdings to $2.71 billion, after the loss had once swelled to $10 billion. Bitmine currently holds 5,956,378 ETH, with an average cost basis of roughly $3,340 per token. Additionally, its staked Ethereum positions remain at 5,067,309 ETH, accounting for 85% of its total holdings and valued at approximately $12.7 billion, with current annualized staking rewards of around $334 million.
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Ethereum added $32 million in euro-denominated stablecoin market cap over the past 30 days, accounting for the lion’s share of a $39.9 million increase spread across three networks. The other two contributors, Arc and Base, picked up the remainder.
That $32 million figure might sound modest next to the dollar-denominated stablecoin world, where Tether alone commands north of $100B. But for euro stablecoins, a market that barely existed two years ago, it represents meaningful momentum in a sector that has grown from roughly €50 million in early 2024 to approximately $835 million by mid-August 2026.
Ethereum’s grip on euro stablecoins Ethereum currently holds about 69.5% of the entire euro stablecoin market, with supply sitting in the range of $579 million to $589 million.
Since January 2026, Ethereum has injected roughly $125 million in additional euro stablecoin supply.
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Two stablecoins dominate the space: Circle’s EURC and SG-Forge’s EURCV. Together, they account for over 80% of total euro stablecoin supply. Both are built to satisfy the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, which has effectively become the gatekeeper for legitimate euro stablecoin issuance.
By mid-2026, €674 million of the euro stablecoin supply was MiCA-compliant.
Arc and Base: the challengers Arc launched its public mainnet on September 16, 2026, positioning itself as a chain optimized specifically for stablecoin-native payments and foreign exchange. It has deployed approximately $7 million in EURC so far.
Base contributes around 6-7% of the overall euro stablecoin market.
MiCA: the regulatory engine behind the growth MiCA gave stablecoin issuers a clear set of rules. Issuers who comply can operate across all 27 EU member states with a single license. That kind of regulatory passport is enormously valuable for companies like Circle and SG-Forge (a subsidiary of Société Générale, one of France’s largest banks), which are targeting enterprise and institutional clients.
The euro stablecoin market’s expansion from €50 million to over $800 million has been institution-driven, with growth catalyzed by MiCA’s regulatory infrastructure rather than retail speculation.
What to watch from here Ethereum’s 69.5% market share gives it a commanding lead. Arc’s positioning creates a potential conflict of interest: Circle is both the issuer of EURC and the operator of Arc. When two stablecoins control over 80% of supply and one network holds nearly 70% of market cap, any disruption to those key players would ripple through the entire sector.
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Leading cryptocurrencies rallied on Sunday as risk appetite surged amid the Securities and Exchange Commission’s push to introduce tokenized-stock products.
Crypto Market RalliesBitcoin spiked late evening, briefly surpassing $82,000 before pulling back. Similarly, Ethereum surged past $2,700, supported by a 41% jump in 24-hour volume.
Sentiment has improved after the SEC introduced a regulatory pathway allowing certain tokenized U.S. stocks to trade on blockchains.
Nearly $400 million in cryptocurrency positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours, with shorts taking the heaviest losses, according to Coinglass data.
Bitcoin’s open interest rose 0.90% over the last 24 hours and nearly 10% over the week. On Binance, both retail and whale derivatives traders stayed neutral on the apex cryptocurrency.
“Greed” sentiment returned to the market, according to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index.
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The global cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.81 trillion, up 1.12% over the last 24 hours.
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Stock Futures SpikeStock futures lifted overnight on Sunday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures rose 115 points, or 0.22%, as of 8:44 p.m. EDT. S&P 500 futures were up 0.34%, while Nasdaq 100 Futures added 0.53%.
Middle East tensions escalated as Yemen-based Houthis targeted a key Saudi Arabian airport and a fuel depot belonging to Saudi Aramco.
Meanwhile, the State Department warned Americans to reconsider travel to and through the Middle East and “exercise increased caution.”
Bitcoin Headed Higher?Killa, a widely followed cryptocurrency analyst and trader, said they’re targeting Bitcoin at $89,070 and advised against shorting near $81,000
“I’m not interested in shorting the same $81,000 highs again & again. Compression within an uptrend will always lead to expansion eventually,” the analyst added. “Even if we range here for longer, I’d rather wait for higher prices.”
Ali Martinez, another well-known chartist and on-chain researcher, noted Ethereum’s breakout above $2,560 with a clean retest as support.
“With the breakout holding, I’m watching $2,760 as the next major target,” the analyst added.
According to EmberCN’s monitoring, a crypto whale that sold ETH in August for an approximate profit of $3.7 million has repurchased ETH today. Over the past hour, the whale transferred $40 million in USDC to Binance, and has since withdrawn 7,567 ETH worth roughly $20 million from the exchange. The whale has repeatedly executed ETH trades on the 21st of each month: it bought $21 million worth of ETH on July 21, sold ETH on August 21 to pocket ~$3.7 million in profit, and repurchased ETH again on September 21.
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19 minutes ago
Fraud-related FUD surrounding Kalshi has spilled over to the prediction market: 61% of its bets are multi-event parlay wagers, and its actual trading volume is 14 times lower than its reported figures.
Recently, Kalshi’s crypto perpetual contract trading data has faced widespread skepticism from the community. The controversy began with crypto perpetual contracts: a trader noted that ETH perpetual open interest is only around millions of U.S. dollars, yet daily trading volume reaches hundreds of millions of dollars, with unusually high turnover. Kalshi’s head of crypto business, IcoBeast, responded by addressing the perpetual contracts and its crypto prediction markets separately, stating that prediction markets have no equivalent market maker rebates and their statistical methodology is comparable to industry peers. However, community discussions did not stop at perpetual contracts; suspicions of fraud spread to Kalshi’s core prediction market business. Prominent prediction market trader @retardmode posted that roughly 61% of Kalshi’s disclosed trading volume comes from "multi-event parlay bets" (called "串关" in Chinese), which bundle the outcomes of multiple events into a single ticket that requires all selections to be correct to win. The platform does not calculate volume based on users’ actual wagers, but instead uses a $1 par value per contract. For example, a user spending $1 on a parlay ticket that pays out $14.10 if all selections are correct will be recorded as $14.10 in trading volume. Nearly half of these parlay bets involve 11 or more events, resulting in extremely low win probabilities. Using this methodology, Kalshi’s actual trading volume yesterday was around $136 million, while its publicly disclosed figure was $1.91 billion. Top Polymarket trader @CarOnPolymarket further estimated that the actual trading volume of Kalshi’s parlay bets may only be roughly 7.1% of its disclosed parlay bet amount. Extrapolated monthly, this could create an extreme gap of approximately $4 billion in actual volume versus $57 billion in reported figures.
19 minutes ago
Crypto media Jinse Finance has partnered with Hyperliquid's Chinese channel to launch a trading rant event, where participants can share their trading experiences to split a prize pool of 28.88 HYPE tokens.
BlockBeats and Hyperliquid Chinese Channel officially launch the HYPE Community Rant Session. The 7-day event runs from September 21 to September 28, where users can win HYPE rewards by sharing their trading stories. Eligible topics include: - Who missed out on Robinhood’s $PONS "wealth train"? - Who got liquidated while holding positions when crude oil was more volatile than BTC and ETH in the middle of the night? - Back this time last year, $ZEC was only $40... Did you catch the privacy narrative? - $HYPE and $LIT hit new highs—are you still holding $ASTER? The event has three reward tiers, with the top prize being 9.99 HYPE. To participate, users must quote the event’s promotional content, post original topic tweets, and follow the Hyperliquid Chinese Channel. The event is exclusively sponsored by ecosystem project Aqua, and supported by partners TradingBeats, CoinAnk, HyperEVM Chinese Station, and Hyperliquid Madhouse.
19 minutes ago
GPT-6 Astra solves Liouville's version of the Goldbach conjecture, with independent verification and approval by Lean.
Insight Beating AI Flash News: Anonymous math community account Captain Sude has released a new proof discovered by GPT-6 Astra, solving the Liouville version of the Goldbach problem. This problem relaxes the "two primes" condition in the classic Goldbach conjecture to "two integers with an odd total number of prime factors". Previously, Durham University mathematician Alexander P. Mangerel could only prove this under the assumptions that the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis holds and the even number is sufficiently large. Astra has now removed both constraints, proving that all even numbers greater than 2 satisfy the condition. The core approach is to first assume that a given even number cannot be split in this way, then derive contradictory results step by step. The full proof has been written in Lean 4. The project compiles successfully, and independent audit repositories have successfully reproduced the result, with no `sorry` statements or additional mathematical axioms found. The classic Goldbach conjecture itself remains unsolved, as the two addends here can still be composite numbers.
19 minutes ago
Samsung Electronics' shares surged 5%, marking their largest single-day gain in two weeks.
According to Bitget market data, Samsung Electronics’ stock price surged 5%, marking its largest single-day gain in two weeks and leading the Korea Composite Index. Note: Samsung Electronics’ dividend equity registration date is September 30.
19 minutes ago
Kalshi executives respond to volume manipulation allegations: Need to distinguish between prediction markets and perpetual contracts
Kalshi’s Head of Crypto Business, IcoBeast.eth, published a post addressing external doubts about two key issues: alleged fraudulent trading volume in Kalshi’s crypto prediction markets, and claims regarding its perpetual contracts’ Self-Clearing Members (SCMs). He clarified that Artemis charts display prediction market trading volume shares, not perpetual contract trading volume. Kalshi does not offer rebates for its crypto prediction markets, and the number of contracts and notional amount calculations in its prediction markets align with those of other platforms, making them comparable. Regarding the claim that “SCMs are market makers selected by Kalshi,” he stated this is untrue. Any institution meeting regulatory requirements can become a Self-Clearing Member of a CFTC-regulated exchange, and “fair access” is a core regulatory mandate. He also noted that all exchanges use rebates and incentive programs to boost liquidity, including CME, Hyperliquid, and Binance. On Kalshi’s perpetual contract business, he admitted it is still in its early stages, but emphasized that unlike offshore perpetual contract trading platforms, Kalshi is required to publicly disclose its incentive programs, so all related incentive arrangements are transparent and accessible.
Kalshi executives respond to volume manipulation allegations: Need to distinguish between prediction markets and perpetual contracts
Kalshi’s Head of Crypto Business, IcoBeast.eth, published a post addressing external doubts about two key issues: alleged fraudulent trading volume in Kalshi’s crypto prediction markets, and claims regarding its perpetual contracts’ Self-Clearing Members (SCMs). He clarified that Artemis charts display prediction market trading volume shares, not perpetual contract trading volume. Kalshi does not offer rebates for its crypto prediction markets, and the number of contracts and notional amount calculations in its prediction markets align with those of other platforms, making them comparable. Regarding the claim that “SCMs are market makers selected by Kalshi,” he stated this is untrue. Any institution meeting regulatory requirements can become a Self-Clearing Member of a CFTC-regulated exchange, and “fair access” is a core regulatory mandate. He also noted that all exchanges use rebates and incentive programs to boost liquidity, including CME, Hyperliquid, and Binance. On Kalshi’s perpetual contract business, he admitted it is still in its early stages, but emphasized that unlike offshore perpetual contract trading platforms, Kalshi is required to publicly disclose its incentive programs, so all related incentive arrangements are transparent and accessible.
20 minutes ago
Jev is now fully open: the waitlist has been canceled, and everyone can use it directly.
Flash News from Beating AI: TypeSafe AI announced that Jev is now fully open to all users, with the waitlist eliminated. Users can register and use it directly via the official Console, no longer needing to apply for Early Access. Jev is not designed for chatting or code writing; it specializes in classification, scoring, and judgment. Developers provide candidate options in advance, and Jev directly returns the selection, probability, and confidence level, enabling programs to proceed using the results. The official pricing remains $0.042 per million input tokens, while outputs are free of charge. Before its full launch, Jev had already spread rapidly across third-party platforms. Vercel reported that within 24 hours of integrating Jev into its AI Gateway, nearly 13% of paid teams adopted it, making it the fastest-adopted new model in AI Gateway history—its adoption rate is twice that of the GPT-5.6 series over the same period.
20 minutes ago
BTW has surged 644% since August, and a new address withdrew 5 million tokens from Gate.
According to monitoring by ai_9684xtpa, BTW has surged 644% since August, rising from $0.1017 to $0.7572 and once again topping the 24-hour futures gain rankings. Forty minutes ago, a new address withdrew 5 million BTW from Gate, valued at approximately $3.71 million, at a withdrawal price of $0.7428. Additionally, the mysterious entity that accumulated 150 million BTW on August 20 has seen its related asset value rise from around $51.4 million to roughly $112 million, generating an unrealized profit of about $58.51 million.
20 minutes ago
The TRUMP coin team’s address has transferred an additional 2.75 million tokens to OKX, bringing the two-day total of such transfers to 6 million tokens.
According to EmberCN’s monitoring, the TRUMP token team address transferred 2.75 million TRUMP tokens to OKX again 8 hours ago, worth roughly $5.69 million. Over the past two days, the address has cumulatively sent 6 million TRUMP tokens to OKX, valued at around $12.59 million.
20 minutes ago
The Lighter codebase has added support for prediction markets, with a single commit involving 88 files.
According to its GitHub page, the development team behind Lighter has recently submitted an update to the lighter-prover codebase, adding a "Binary options support" (prediction markets) feature. The commit involves 88 files, with 6,329 lines of new code and 1,214 lines removed, covering multiple modules including transaction processing, market data, account positions, settlement results, and zero-knowledge proof circuits.
20 minutes ago
GSTOCK's market cap briefly surged past $32 million, extending its run of new all-time highs.
According to GMGN market data, BSC meme project GSTOCK’s market capitalization briefly surpassed $32 million. The token is currently priced at $0.0307, with a corresponding market cap of $30.4 million, a 258.9% 24-hour increase, and approximately $19.9 million in 24-hour trading volume.
Altcoins have climbed back above a key level on Binance, with 70% now above their 200-day average. A separate gauge of altcoin strength has moved in the opposite direction.
Blockchaincenter’s Altcoin Season Index fell to 41 on September 20. The reading sits 34 points below the level that historically confirms an altcoin season.
Altcoin Market Cap Reclaims $800 BillionThe total cryptocurrency market capitalization has gained 3.7% in September, with several altcoins posting sharp rallies despite macroeconomic and geopolitical shocks.
CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost reported that Total3 moved back above $800 billion. The metric tracks altcoin market capitalization excluding Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). That level had not been reached in more than 8 months.
The move cleared May’s high on a strong daily close. Furthermore, Binance data showed that 70% of altcoins were trading above their 200-day averages, a level last seen in October 2025.
Those same altcoins spent nearly a year sitting 65% to 85% below that average. Bitcoin, meanwhile, has traded within a range of $75,600 to $82,000.
Ash Crypto pointed to another bullish setup on a chart excluding the top 10 assets.
The last time the Altcoin market broke out of a major monthly downtrend, it went parabolic within 9 months.
We’re seeing a very similar setup again.
If history repeats, this could be the early stage of another Altcoin season. pic.twitter.com/PEkJ8KERc9
— Ash Crypto (@AshCrypto) September 17, 2026
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Why the Two Signals Point in Opposite DirectionsThe improved price structure does not necessarily mean altcoins are outperforming Bitcoin. The Altcoin Season Index measures the percentage of the top 50 altcoins that have outperformed Bitcoin over a 90-day period.
With the index at 41, fewer than half of those assets have beaten BTC over that timeframe. The index peaked near 67 in August. Relative strength has weakened since then.
Altcoin Season Index. Source: BlockchaincenterBitcoin dominance also supports this view. The metric stood at 59.34% on September 20, up 0.5% over the previous three days.
In other words, altcoins have recovered against the dollar without yet showing broad-based strength against Bitcoin.
One Bitcoin-denominated measure, however, points to a possible shift. The ETH/BTC ratio was near 0.03238 and had recently tested against a downtrend in place since 2021, according to Ash Crypto.
The breakout is still recent, and the ratio remains well below its 2021 peak. It therefore provides an early signal rather than confirmation of a broader altcoin rotation.
Darkfost also cautioned that the market’s improving structure could reverse quickly.
“But be careful, this kind of development can shift quickly, so caution remains warranted,” analyst Darkfost said.
For the Altcoin Season Index to confirm a broader rotation, altcoins would need to continue outperforming Bitcoin across its 90-day measurement period.
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Robinhood Chain processed nearly 600 million transactions through early September while spending under $50,000 on Ethereum settlement costs. Its 30-day DEX volume stands near $38.8 billion, showing that substantial activity can develop on an Ethereum L2 without proportional L1 fees. The gap highlights a growing distinction between Ethereum ecosystem growth and Ethereum mainnet revenue. Robinhood Chain has become one of Ethereum’s busiest Layer 2 networks, but its rapid expansion is testing a central assumption behind Ethereum’s rollup economy: how much value does the base layer actually capture when activity moves elsewhere?
The network is built on the Arbitrum stack and uses Ethereum for settlement and data availability. Yet the cost of accessing that infrastructure can be tiny compared with the fees generated on the L2.
Bitquery found that on September 3, Robinhood Chain users paid approximately $4.5 million in transaction fees, while only about $396 was spent posting data to Ethereum and another $2 on proving costs.
The disparity is not evidence that Ethereum’s scaling strategy has failed. Cheap settlement is one of the objectives of the rollup model. It does, however, show why growth across Ethereum’s Layer 2 ecosystem no longer translates directly into higher mainnet fee revenue.
Billions in Trading Can Require Little Ethereum Blockspace Robinhood Chain’s activity remains substantial even after its early-September fee spike faded.
DeFiLlama data shows the network’s TVL approaching $1 billion, after rising from virtually zero in early July. The increase has been persistent rather than concentrated in a single short-lived spike, with TVL passing $400 million in early August, $600 million toward the end of the month and accelerating above $900 million in September.
Robinhood Chain’s DeFi TVL climbed from near zero in early July close to $1 billion by September 20. Source: DeFiLlama. Trading activity expanded rapidly alongside the capital deposited on the network. According to DeFiLlama, daily DEX volume surged from roughly $500 million in late August to a September peak near $2.6 billion, before settling around $1.1 billion. Yet, despite processing billions in daily volume during this surge, the network’s settlement demand on Ethereum mainnet remained negligible.
Robinhood Chain DEX volume peaked at approximately $2.6 billion in September before easing to around $1.1 billion. Over the past 30 days, decentralized exchanges on Robinhood Chain have processed approximately $38.8 billion, with Uniswap accounting for $32.6 billion. The network also holds around $1.04 billion in stablecoins, reinforcing that the rise in activity has been accompanied by a growing pool of onchain liquidity rather than transaction counts alone.
Meanwhile, growthepie’s latest available data shows 9.6 million daily transactions and 414,000 active addresses, while users paid about $292,500 in daily chain fees, down 67.8% week over week.
The combination is important for understanding Robinhood Chain’s relationship with Ethereum. Nearly $1 billion can sit inside its DeFi ecosystem and more than $1 billion can change hands on DEXs in a day without requiring the same economic activity to take place directly on Ethereum mainnet.
Robinhood Chain executes transactions on the L2 and uses Ethereum primarily for settlement and data availability. Transactions can be bundled and their data posted to Ethereum in compressed form, allowing large amounts of activity to consume relatively little L1 blockspace.
Ethereum’s blob architecture has made that process considerably cheaper. Robinhood Chain’s rising TVL and sustained DEX volume therefore demonstrate the two sides of rollup scaling: economic activity can grow rapidly across the Ethereum ecosystem while the direct fees generated for Ethereum mainnet remain comparatively small.
Where Does the Economic Value Go? Comparing Robinhood Chain’s user fees directly with its Ethereum costs can be misleading if the difference is treated as profit.
Several layers participate in the economics.
Robinhood Chain collects network fees and incurs infrastructure expenses, while applications operating on the network generate their own revenue. Arbitrum also receives income from chains built through its Expansion Program.
The Arbitrum Foundation reported that Expansion Program license fees represented 35% of ArbitrumDAO income in July, the first month with Robinhood Chain operating on mainnet.
Ethereum occupies a different position. Its economic exposure is concentrated around the services the L2 purchases from the base layer rather than the entire amount users spend across the L2 ecosystem.
This creates an important distinction between technical dependence and economic capture.
Robinhood Chain can depend on Ethereum infrastructure while most of the economic activity generated by its users remains within the L2, its applications and other infrastructure providers.
Transaction Activity Stayed High as Fees Collapsed September has also produced another useful signal: Robinhood Chain’s transaction count and fee revenue have begun moving in different directions.
At its early-September peak, the network collected roughly $8 million from 13.1 million transactions in a single day. By September 16, fees had dropped to about $230,000, while transactions remained at 8.9 million.
That represents a 97% decline in fees against a 32% decline in transaction activity.
DEX activity did not disappear either. CoinDesk calculated about $13 billion in DEX volume during the seven days through September 16, up 5% from the preceding week.
The latest growthepie reading continues that pattern. Robinhood Chain recorded 9.6 million transactions while generating about $292,500 in daily user fees.
For investors and analysts, this makes transaction count alone a weak measure of economic value. A chain can remain heavily used while the amount users pay for that activity changes dramatically.
Corporate L2s Change Ethereum’s Economics Robinhood launched the public mainnet in July as an Arbitrum-based Layer 2 designed around financial services and tokenized real-world assets. The company highlighted integrations with Uniswap, Alchemy, BitGo and Chainlink as part of the initial ecosystem.
The architecture offers a company such as Robinhood greater control over execution and network design while retaining access to Ethereum infrastructure.
That model could become increasingly relevant if more financial institutions choose dedicated L2s rather than deploying their activity directly on Ethereum mainnet.
For Ethereum, however, the success of those networks introduces a different way of measuring adoption.
An L2 can generate billions of dollars in trading volume and millions of daily transactions while buying relatively little Ethereum blockspace. Ethereum ecosystem activity and Ethereum mainnet revenue therefore need to be evaluated as separate metrics rather than treated as interchangeable measures of growth.
The numbers worth watching are L2 fees, Ethereum data-availability spending, ETH demand and transaction activity together. Robinhood Chain is already showing why any one of them in isolation can give a distorted picture of where economic value is actually accumulating.
Alexander Zdravkov is a crypto journalist and market analyst specializing in digital assets, blockchain technology, and the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency market. He entered the industry more than four years ago, drawn to the speed of innovation in crypto and the potential of blockchain-based financial systems to reshape traditional markets. His work focuses on understanding the forces behind crypto market movements, from Bitcoin and altcoin cycles to institutional adoption, regulation, exchange-traded products, stablecoins, DeFi, and emerging blockchain ecosystems. Rather than simply following price action, Alexander looks at liquidity, investor positioning, market structure, and macroeconomic conditions to identify developing trends and explain what they could mean for digital assets. With a degree in International Relations, he brings a broader perspective to cryptocurrency coverage by connecting developments in the sector with monetary policy, geopolitics, regulation, and global capital flows. This allows him to examine crypto not as an isolated market, but as an increasingly interconnected part of the global financial system. Over the course of more than five years in financial journalism, Alexander has written over 5,000 articles covering cryptocurrencies, blockchain, traditional markets, and the global economy. His reporting spans Bitcoin, Ethereum and altcoins, DeFi protocols, institutional crypto adoption, regulation, market infrastructure, security incidents, and major developments shaping the wider digital asset industry. His approach is centered on giving readers context behind the numbers and headlines, explaining not only what is happening in crypto markets, but why it matters and what could come next.
Ethereum has set a December 2029 target for a quantum-resistant Layer 1 while moving Frame Transactions toward Hegotá and developing execution proofs, privacy tools and a new consensus design.
Summary
Ethereum Protocol targets Layer 1 quantum resistance across execution, consensus and data by December 2029. EIP-8141 Frame Transactions is scheduled for Hegotá, enabling programmable validation, gas payment and key rotation. EIP-8025 remains proposed for Hegotá, offering optional execution proofs without changing consensus validity rules today. Ethereum Foundation research now spans fast finality, privacy, state, zkEVM and post-quantum security workstreams together. Issuance changes remain unsettled, with researcher support for reform but no approved Ethereum policy yet. The Ethereum Foundation’s Protocol Cluster laid out the deadline in its Sept. 7 priorities update, then researchers addressed the roadmap during the Sept. 16 EF Protocol AMA on Reddit. The Foundation said its post-quantum work must cover Ethereum’s execution, consensus and data-availability systems, while several technologies discussed in the AMA remain research proposals or individual researcher views instead of finalized network changes.
EF Protocol has committed to making the Ethereum Layer 1 post-quantum across all three protocol layers by December 2029. Its published plan treats a possible cryptographically relevant quantum computer by 2030 as an aggressive planning assumption, even though the Foundation says most estimates place such a threat later. The cluster called the 2029 deadline “non-negotiable” at least until January 2027, when outside experts are expected to help reassess quantum progress.
Execution accounts form one part of the migration. Ethereum currently relies heavily on elliptic-curve signatures, while the future system needs accounts that can replace their authentication method without waiting for a new hard fork every time cryptographic standards change. Consensus has a separate problem because validator signatures and aggregation are embedded more deeply in protocol rules, requiring dedicated hard-fork work. Data availability must eventually move away from cryptographic dependencies that do not satisfy the post-quantum target.
As crypto.news reported in its coverage of the roadmap, Ethereum’s 2029 plan now places quantum safety among Protocol’s central delivery commitments rather than treating it solely as distant research. Ethereum targets quantum-resistant L1 by 2029
The Foundation has cautioned that core-protocol changes do not automatically protect everything built around Ethereum. Wallets, custody systems, bridges, rollups and applications can retain classical cryptographic dependencies even after Layer 1 changes. The Sept. 16 AMA raised that migration problem directly, including questions about how external systems should identify and replace vulnerable cryptography before the core deadline.
Frame Transactions give Ethereum accounts cryptographic flexibility EIP-8141, known as Frame Transactions, is now scheduled for inclusion in Hegotá. The draft separates transaction validation, execution and gas payment into programmable frames, allowing an account to define how it verifies authorization instead of relying permanently on Ethereum’s existing transaction-signature model.
The design supports key rotation, sponsored gas payments, alternative fee arrangements and atomic groups of actions. Its post-quantum role comes from cryptographic agility: an account could adopt a different signature scheme through its own validation logic instead of requiring Ethereum to add one fixed post-quantum signature format for every user.
EF Protocol ranked Frames as an S-tier Hegotá item in September and described it as the execution-layer headliner. The current package pairs EIP-8141 with keyed nonces under EIP-8250 and recent roots under EIP-8272. Protocol researchers said the combination supports privacy use cases and provides part of the route away from secp256k1 master keys.
Frames can let users pay transaction costs through sponsors or tokens while validators continue receiving ETH-denominated network fees. The same structure can group related operations so an approval can be rolled back if the later action fails. Ethereum EIP-8141 could remove the need to hold ETH for gas
The specification remains a draft even though it is scheduled for the fork. Ethereum.org currently lists Hegotá as an upgrade in planning, with Q2 2027 shown as an expected period and no confirmed mainnet date. FOCIL and Frames are the two changes formally scheduled in the Hegotá Meta EIP, while much of the remaining scope is still being selected.
zkEVM work is moving from benchmarks toward optional proofs Ethereum’s L1-zkEVM work is following a staged route. EIP-8025 proposes optional execution proofs that validators and nodes could generate or consume without changing Ethereum’s consensus validity rules. The mechanism would let teams test proof creation, networking, verification and client integration on the live network before proofs become required for block validity.
The proposal remains in draft status and sits in Hegotá’s proposed-for-inclusion section. EF Protocol nevertheless rated EIP-8025 as an A-tier priority in its September assessment, saying it would move stateless-execution work into Ethereum’s canonical specifications and reduce separate zkVM development branches.
Ethereum’s zkEVM roadmap later moves from optional proofs to mandatory proofs, where validators could verify succinct proofs instead of re-executing every block. EF Protocol says the exact fork ordering is still under review because post-quantum consensus work may be moved ahead of mandatory execution proofs.
Performance has improved, but security work is unfinished. The Ethereum Foundation reported in late 2025 that zkVM systems had reached a stage where 99% of Ethereum blocks could be proven within 10 seconds on its target hardware, after proving times had fallen sharply during development. Its current zkEVM tracker still measures ISA compliance, real-time proving and security readiness separately.
Formal verification has not removed the need for testing. A May EF zkEVM report described how verification work on SP1 Hypercube established mathematical guarantees for parts of its RISC-V implementation but later testing uncovered a JALR issue and other gaps in the verification assumptions. The Foundation said formal claims must state precisely what has been proven and what remains outside the proof.
The Formal Verification team has continued building machine-checked tools. Its August better.codes program uses Lean and ArkLib to test cryptographic soundness claims for hash-based proof systems, while Q2 grants supported verification work on RISC-V zkVM constraints and Ethereum execution tooling.
Privacy and faster finality are being developed across several forks Privacy sits beside post-quantum work as one of EF Protocol’s multi-fork research programs. The Foundation’s current plan starts with transaction-level tools around Hegotá, including Frames and FOCIL, before pursuing post-quantum privacy and encrypted mempool designs later.
FOCIL is intended to make transaction inclusion less dependent on a single block builder. Combined with programmable accounts and keyed nonces, the design could let privacy applications use Ethereum’s normal transaction pipeline without requiring a dedicated relay for every private operation. Ethereum’s privacy roadmap describes Frames as a way to support privacy-preserving validation and gas abstraction while FOCIL provides an inclusion mechanism.
A separate draft, EIP-8182, had proposed an enshrined private ETH and ERC-20 transfer mechanism. EF Protocol declined it for Hegotá in September, saying the Frames-based route could support privacy without placing one specific privacy system directly into the protocol. The decision does not mean native privacy has been abandoned; it changes the engineering route currently favored by Protocol.
As crypto.news reported in May, Vitalik Buterin had already described account abstraction, FOCIL and keyed nonces as pieces of Ethereum’s privacy work. Vitalik Buterin maps three-step Ethereum privacy upgrade
Finality research is moving on a separate timeline. EF Protocol’s Sept. 7 roadmap names decoupled consensus as the leading candidate for the I* fork after Hegotá. The design separates block availability from the finality mechanism and is intended to reduce finality from minutes toward seconds over successive protocol changes. Specifications and prototypes remain in development.
Quick Slots, which could shorten Ethereum’s current 12-second slot time, has not received the same Hegotá commitment. EF Protocol rated EIP-8198 as B-tier and said it needs a complete specification, implementation, ecosystem assessment and confirmation that it will not interfere with decoupled consensus.
In related coverage, crypto.news reported on Sept. 18 that Ethereum Institutional backed work exploring a reduction from 12-second to 10-second blocks, while noting that EIP-8198 had not been scheduled for inclusion. Ethereum Institutional backs plan to cut block times to 10 seconds
ETH issuance remains a community policy question The Sept. 16 AMA returned repeatedly to ETH issuance and the size of the staking base. Several questions challenged Ethereum’s existing reward curve and asked whether continued staking growth could create pressure on unstaked ETH holders or concentrate the validator system.
A concrete proposal exists, but it has not been adopted. EIP-8363 proposes a tapered issuance burn that would reduce net validator issuance as the staking ratio increases and cancel consensus issuance at a defined saturation balance close to 50% of ETH supply. The draft proposes an 18-month transition if it were ever activated.
EF Protocol unanimously declined EIP-8363 for the Hegotá scoping process, while explicitly stating that the decision was “not a judgment on the merits.” The cluster said issuance affects every holder, staker and Ethereum’s security budget, so it expects the subject to continue through an ecosystem process instead of being settled by one fork-selection group.
As crypto.news previously reported, the draft would progressively reduce staking issuance as more ETH is staked, but it remains a proposal under discussion and has no approved activation fork. Ethereum proposal could end staking rewards at 50%
The debate therefore differs from Frames, which has a scheduled fork slot. Researcher support for changing issuance represents personal or proposal-level positions until Ethereum’s governance process reaches agreement on an actual specification and upgrade path.
EF’s reorganized teams divide protocol, access and institutional work The Ethereum Foundation’s June reorganization created five main work clusters: Protocol, Access, User, Community and Institutional, alongside operations and management functions. The Foundation said the restructuring reduced its staff by 54 people, close to 20%, while changing how research, user needs and institutional communication are divided.
Protocol now owns hard-fork delivery and research areas such as post-quantum security, zkEVM and Layer 1 privacy. The Access Layer focuses on areas including transactions, proving, delegation and user control, while the Institutional Layer works with financial institutions, companies, governments, universities and nonprofit organizations.
EF Protocol’s Sept. 7 priorities document says its December 2029 target will require overlapping work across Hegotá, I*, J* and later forks instead of finishing one upgrade before research begins on the next. Client teams, cryptographers, security reviewers and outside researchers are expected to work on multiple stages at once.
The next confirmed protocol checkpoint is Hegotá’s continuing scope process. Frames and FOCIL are scheduled, EIP-8025 remains proposed, and additional candidates must pass specification, prototype and testing requirements before Ethereum developers decide whether they belong in the fork.
FAQs Is Ethereum guaranteed to be quantum-resistant by 2029? No. December 2029 is EF Protocol’s engineering target, not a guaranteed completion date. The Foundation plans to reassess quantum progress with outside experts beginning in January 2027.
Is EIP-8141 confirmed for Ethereum? Frame Transactions are scheduled for inclusion in Hegotá, but EIP-8141 remains a draft specification and can still change during implementation and testing.
Is Ethereum already using zkEVM proofs for consensus? No. EIP-8025 proposes optional proofs that do not change consensus validity. Mandatory execution proofs belong to a later stage of the roadmap.
Has Ethereum decided to reduce ETH issuance? No. EIP-8363 remains a draft, and EF Protocol declined to settle issuance policy through Hegotá’s fork-scoping process.
Ethereum rebounded toward the $2,500 to $2,550 region after dipping below $2,400 earlier in the week, returning to a zone that technical analysts have marked as a pivotal breakout point. With institutional demand showing fresh signs of stability, investor attention is turning to how far Ethereum might climb before the end of 2026.
ETF inflows and market sentimentFarside Investors, a financial analytics provider, reported that U.S. spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) returned to positive inflows after recording more than $400 million in outflows across three trading sessions earlier in the week. This turnaround in ETF flows is closely watched as an indicator of institutional sentiment and support for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Despite the improved institutional activity, Ethereum faces an immediate technical hurdle. For further upside, ETH needs to establish support above the $2,550 threshold instead of merely spiking above it before falling back. Sustaining a break beyond this level could set the stage for a move to $2,700, followed by $2,800. If ETH successfully clears $2,800, the psychologically significant $3,000 mark comes sharply into view.
Positive ETF flows have stabilized after $400 million in outflows, and analysts say Ethereum must cement support above $2,550 to target further gains.
Technical targets and probability of a rallyCurrently trading around $2,500, Ethereum would need to rally about 20% to reach the $3,000 milestone. While substantial, such a move would represent a smaller gain compared to explosive surges observed during prior major bull cycles in the cryptocurrency market.
Coinpaper, a cryptocurrency news and analytics outlet, has noted a growing supply-side trend: approximately 35% of Ethereum’s total supply is now staked, and exchange reserves have continued to decline. This trend may gradually reduce the available liquid supply of ETH for trading purposes.
If Ethereum aims for $3,500, a target that would require roughly a 40% increase from current levels, analysts suggest that multiple drivers would be necessary. These factors could include not just further technical breakouts, but also continued robust ETF inflows, rejuvenated investor risk appetite across digital assets, and ongoing pressure on the liquid supply due to continued staking activity and declining exchange balances.
Shrinking exchange reserves support the case that reducing liquid supply could potentially trigger sharper price moves should demand for Ethereum accelerate.
Mini dictionary: Staking, a process where cryptocurrency holders lock up their assets on a network to help support operations and validate transactions. Staked coins are removed from the circulating supply, reducing the amount of liquidity available for trading.
Ethereum price checkpoints: potential scenariosAnalysts are closely watching several technical and fundamental checkpoints for Ethereum to determine the likelihood of a stronger rally. A confirmed support above $2,550 is seen as the immediate objective. If sustained, ETH may set sights on $2,700 and $2,800, with $3,000 representing an important psychological barrier.
Should these hurdles be cleared and supply remain tight through increased staking and declining exchange balances, the potential for a further 40% rally toward $3,500 emerges. Such a move, however, would likely require the convergence of multiple supportive factors within the broader digital asset landscape.
Price LevelRequired Gain from $2,500Conditions$2,550+2%Support must hold$2,700+8%Break above $2,550 confirmed$2,800+12%Momentum builds$3,000+20%Psychological resistance$3,500+40%Needs strong inflows and tight supplyWith 35% of ETH now staked and exchange reserves falling, analysts argue that tighter supply could amplify future moves if demand returns.
PANews, September 16 - ETHShanghai 2026 will be held in Shanghai on September 22. This year's conference, themed "Ethereum's Renaissance," will cover hot topics such as Ethereum development, AI × Web3, decentralization and individual sovereignty, prediction markets, stablecoins, and tokenized US stocks.
Notably, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin will attend the event online and deliver a keynote speech titled "Ethereum as Infrastructure, CROPS as the Goal." This topic will extend his previous views on blockchain as a privacy infrastructure layer for the AI agent era, exploring how decentralized forces can play a balancing role in the context of the increasing centralization of AI, preventing any single force from achieving absolute dominance in cyberspace.
The event is co-hosted by ETHPanda, PANews, and The Excited Few, with special support from Wanxiang Blockchain Labs, GCC, and ETH HK Hub. For event details, please click the original link to visit. Registration is open.
Ethereum’s [ETH] reclaim of the $2,500 level coincides with a major shift in where the asset is being held.
Since May 2025, exchange balances have fallen from 14.8 million ETH to 25.7 million ETH, representing a decrease of approximately 28%.
This decrease is important because as ETH approaches the next price level at which new purchases will be able to absorb some of the current supply, there may not be enough readily available supply.
Source: CryptoQuant During this last rebound period, September’s outflow data indicate that these migrations have been occurring. As a result of this migration, the number of liquid tokens available to immediately sell from exchanges has been reduced.
Whether ETH can maintain its value above $2500 is dependent upon future demand. If demand increases to support the price recovery, the reduction in liquid tokens may help to continue the recovery.
Conversely, if the flow of buyers reverses into sellers, then reduced liquidity may enhance the magnitude of the reversal.
ETH staking tightens supply As a result of growing staking activity, the amount of liquid ETH continues to dwindle. Staked ETH rose from about 29.8% in September 2025 to 35.56% by September 18, 2026.
Since January, there began to be an increasingly steady trend of growth in ETH staked percentages. This resulted in the percentage of ETH staked exceeding 32% by April, continuing to increase throughout the summer months.
Source: CryptoQuant As the amount of ETH being staked continues to rise, more tokens are steadily removed from circulation. This reduces the total supply available for market trading, tightening liquidity over time.
Meanwhile, the Funding Rate sat near 0.0046 as of writing, suggesting leverage has not risen sharply alongside staking. Therefore, it’s worth noting that the rising percentage of ETH being staked will strengthen the overall structure of the supply side of the ETH market.
Thus, the price sensitivity will be more greatly affected by spot demand and the total supply available for trade.
ETH ETFs absorb more supply As the tightness in liquid supply has met an increasing institutional owner base through ETH ETFs. Total inflows for U.S. Spot ETH ETFs are at approximately $13.25 billion, while total asset size is at approximately $16.7 billion.
Source: SoSoValue That equals around 5.2% of Ethereum’s market value, giving regulated products a much larger role than in May 2025. Notably, BlackRock’s ETHA leads the expansion, with more than $9 billion in assets.
Recent flows remain uneven, however, with daily movements swinging between large outflows and a $143.8 million inflow. This shows institutional demand remains active but inconsistent near $2,500.
However, it is important to note that the increased size of the ETF base does alter the availability of Ethereum’s supply. More coins are moving off open exchanges and into regulated products, reducing the ETH readily available for trading.
Final Summary Ethereum’s $2,500 reclaim meets shrinking exchange supply and rising ETFs ETH ETFs hold $16.7 billion, tightening supply and increasing sensitivity to spot demand.
In This Article Ethereum Price Analysis: What Does the $2,672 Fibonacci Level Mean for ETH?Recent Sessions Bring Ethereum Price Within $42 of $2,672Can Ethereum Close the Week Above $2,672? As of September 19, 2026, Ethereum price is at $2,570, around $100 below the crucial $2,672 mark. With the weekly candle set to close on September 20, traders are closely monitoring this threshold.
This level corresponds to a Fibonacci retracement of Ethereum’s decline from its October 2025 peak of $4,946 to its January 2026 trough.
A weekly close above $2,672 would target the next major resistance in the $2,950 to $3,000 range. Notably, Ethereum has experienced a four-session uptrend leading to this pivotal moment.
On September 19, ETH closed at $2,619.71, following a recent high of $2,646.55. This reflects a 1.6% proximity to the $2,672 mark over the past two days without breaching it. The key question now is whether ETH can close above $2,672, potentially turning this barrier into support.
Ethereum Price Analysis: What Does the $2,672 Fibonacci Level Mean for ETH? Fibonacci retracement is a technical analysis tool that identifies potential reversal levels by drawing horizontal lines at significant price points based on Fibonacci ratios.
Traders react to these levels, particularly the $2,672 mark drawn from Ethereum’s October 2025 high to its January 2026 low. If ETH closes above $2,672 for the week, analysts will target $2,950 to $3,000, indicating a potential 12% gain.
Weekly closes matter more than daily ones because they reduce short-term volatility and are favored by swing traders and institutional investors for strategy recalibration.
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Recent Sessions Bring Ethereum Price Within $42 of $2,672 $ETH is currently retesting the previous resistance zone.
The $2,550–$2,575 area is presenting potential opportunities for long scalps, with a clear invalidation if price moves back into the range.
Watching this level closely for confirmation. pic.twitter.com/hibWUHQsCr
— Wealthmanager (@Wealthmanager) September 20, 2026
Over the past four trading sessions, Ethereum’s price has steadily risen, starting from a close of $2,416.57 on September 16 and rising to $2,445.44 on September 17.
It moved through the Fed’s rate-hike uncertainty and peaked at $2,646.55 on September 18. The price also added value on September 19, closing at $2,619.71 and currently trading at $2,629.80 as the weekly candle remains open.
The significant uptick on September 18 can be attributed to two key factors. First, traders who had positioned themselves for a downturn were forced to cover their shorts as Bitcoin surged past $80,000.
Second, significant inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs, totaling $143.8M, led by BlackRock’s ETHA with $114.32M, signaled renewed investor interest after three outflow sessions from September 15 to 17.
This spike also pushed ETH past the 50-week moving average near $2,542, an area that had previously resisted upward movement. With ETH reaching a low of $1,550.59 on July 1, this recent rally marks a remarkable recovery of nearly 70% in a short time, underscoring the importance of the upcoming weekly close.
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Can Ethereum Close the Week Above $2,672? ETH is unlikely to close above $2,672 this week, having hovered within $42 of this threshold for two days without a definitive touch; however, it has the remainder of this Sunday session to reverse its fortunes.
Weekend volume is generally insufficient to propel a stalled price trajectory. A close below $2,672 on September 20 would reinforce this level as a ceiling, resetting the potential for upward movement to a lower base.
However, it wouldn’t erase the bullish momentum from ETF inflows or the close above the 50-week average.
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According to TradingBeats monitoring, the ENA long position held by a whale address starting with 0xeadc has been ongoing for roughly 228 days. As of 10:34 Beijing Time, the address still holds approximately 10.0265 million ENA long positions, with an average entry price of $0.110537, position value of around $2.0849 million, and unrealized profit of about $976,600. ENA has risen around 88.12% from its entry cost. The position uses 10x full leverage, generating a return of roughly 881.18%. It currently holds a total of 41 long positions, with a total notional value of approximately $69.8481 million, and an overall contract leverage of about 4.65x. ENA accounts for only around 2.98% of its total contract exposure, but its unrealized profit ranks third among all current positions, trailing only NEAR’s ~$1.3695 million and AAVE’s ~$1.0225 million. It is reported that this address is an ETH OG who entered the crypto market in 2017, once holding nearly $90 million worth of ETH, all transferred to Hyperliquid. Previously, it held the largest HYPE long position on the platform.
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Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin responded in a post to Paradigm CTO Georgios Konstantopoulos’ question—“What room is there left for privacy going forward?”—stating that privacy only truly dies when one gives up on it. “I will not give up on privacy; instead, I will double down on it,” he added. Earlier reports noted that Vitalik updated Ethereum’s roadmap in August, with quantum security, privacy protection, and native Rollups identified as future priorities.
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Ethereum’s validator queues are telling a pretty clear story right now: everyone wants in, and almost nobody wants out. The ratio of ETH waiting to enter staking versus ETH waiting to exit has hit 13.6x, a lopsided figure that reflects just how eager holders are to lock up their tokens.
At one point in July 2026, the exit queue dropped to literally zero ETH. Meanwhile, the entry queue ballooned to approximately 2.48 million ETH, creating a wait time of roughly 43 to 45 days for anyone trying to become a validator.
The entry queue peaked even higher earlier in the year, reaching around 3.4 million ETH in May 2026. Even by late September, it hovered around 1.8 million ETH, still implying a 32-day wait. The exit side, by contrast, has been a ghost town for months.
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This wasn’t always the case. Back in September 2025, the exit queue swelled to approximately 2.67 million ETH. Then something shifted. By early January 2026, exit demand had collapsed by more than 99.9%.
Why the bottleneck exists in the first place Ethereum doesn’t let validators flood in or out at will. The protocol rate-limits both entries and exits to a maximum of roughly 256 ETH per epoch, which works out to about 57,600 ETH processed each day. Right now, that bottleneck is almost entirely one-directional. Entry demand is creating massive backlogs while exit requests barely register.
What’s driving the rush to stake Total staked ETH has surged to a record high of approximately 41 million ETH. That represents roughly 33.5% to 34% of Ethereum’s entire supply. The validator count tells the same story, with the network now supported by somewhere between 885,000 and 900,000 validators.
Large staking operators have been a significant force behind the entry demand. Entities like BitMine have been contributing materially to the queue, reflecting institutional-scale appetite for staking exposure. The Pectra upgrade has also played a role in propelling staking demand, and the data suggests it had exactly that effect.
Supply dynamics and market implications When a third of a network’s token supply is locked in staking, the math for available liquidity changes dramatically. Every ETH staked is an ETH that isn’t sitting on an exchange order book, isn’t being used as collateral for a leveraged trade, and isn’t available for immediate sale.
The 13.6x ratio also serves as a sentiment indicator. The September 2025 exit surge of 2.67 million ETH coincided with a period of broader market uncertainty. Its near-total reversal within a few months suggests that whatever concerns drove that wave of unstaking have been resolved in the minds of most participants.
Combined with the daily processing cap of 57,600 ETH, even if sentiment shifted tomorrow, exits would take weeks to materially impact the staked total of 41 million ETH. That built-in lag acts as a buffer against sudden supply shocks.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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Using Ethereum costs much less than in the spring. The average cost of an ETH transfer fell to around 0.095 dollars, compared to a peak of 0.72 dollars on April 21, according to Santiment data. The drop therefore exceeds 85%. It comes as demand on the mainnet has calmed, but also after several months of technical improvements. Fusaka, blobs, and Layer 2 have given more capacity to the crypto network.
In brief The average cost of an ETH transfer fell to around 0.095 dollars. It was still 0.72 dollars on April 21. Fusaka, blobs, and Layer 2 have increased the capacity available on Ethereum. Transferring crypto ETH Now Costs Less Than $0.10 The drop is clear. In April, sending ETH cost on average 0.72 dollars at the year’s high. This cost now hovers around 0.095 dollars. A simple transfer thus goes below the ten-cent mark according to data tracked by Santiment.
Part of the explanation comes directly from the network. Ethereum activated Fusaka in December 2025. The update notably increased capacity intended for rollups, raised the gas limit, and introduced PeerDAS to better manage data.
The gas limit per block was raised to 60 million. More operations can therefore be processed before users start fighting for the same space.
Demand also matters. The summer was calmer on the Ethereum mainnet. Less competition to enter blocks generally means less pressure on fees. Santiment also warns that a cheaper network does not automatically mean that activity will strongly rebound.
For the crypto user, the result is much simpler: sending ETH, moving a stablecoin, or using some DeFi applications now costs significantly less than in April.
Layer 2 Absorb an Increasing Part of the Traffic Ethereum no longer processes all of its ecosystem’s activity alone. Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, and other Layer 2s execute a large number of transactions outside the main layer, then publish their data on Ethereum. These networks notably use blobs, which are less costly than the old data storage method.
At the beginning of September, Ethereum even reached a record of 6.7 blobs per block on a daily average. The detail is interesting: the network currently has a target of 14 blobs per block and a ceiling of 21. With 6.7 blobs used on average, there is still considerable margin left.
Fusaka also reinforced this architecture. PeerDAS allows validators to verify data fragments instead of having to download everything. For rollups, this opens more space without requiring the same bandwidth increase at each node.
This is a quite different evolution from Ethereum’s early years, when almost all crypto activity fought directly for a spot on the mainnet. Transactions have been distributed. So have fees.
Very Low Fees Do Not Tell the Whole Story of Ethereum For users, paying less remains good news. For the network’s economy, the issue is a bit more complex. Ethereum derives part of its revenue from fees paid on its main layer. When these fees drop sharply, users save money, but the protocol also collects less revenue.
The phenomenon was already visible in the first half of 2026. Ethereum recorded strong activity while seeing its fee-derived revenue decline. Layer 2s play an important role in this decrease. They make the crypto ecosystem cheaper to use but also move part of the activity away from the mainnet.
JPMorgan had already raised this question after Fusaka: more capacity and lower fees do not necessarily guarantee a sustainable increase in Ethereum’s revenue. The migration of some applications and their users to Layer 2s can maintain this pressure.
ETH crypto rebounded this week after briefly falling near 2,350 dollars. It had recovered more than 2,480 dollars at the time of publication. The two movements thus advance together: ETH is rising, while using Ethereum costs much less. At an average of 0.095 dollars for an ETH transfer, the network especially no longer had much to do with the periods when a few operations could quickly cost several dollars.
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Lydie M.
Enseignante et ingénieure IT, Lydie découvre le Bitcoin en 2022 et plonge dans l’univers des cryptomonnaies. Elle vulgarise des sujets complexes, décrypte les enjeux du Web3 et défend une vision d’un futur numérique ouvert, inclusif et décentralisé.
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The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
Robinhood Chain has collected roughly $4.5 million in transaction fees on Sept. 3 while spending an estimated $398 to post data and proofs to Ethereum, illustrating how little Layer 1 settlement cost can accompany heavy activity on an Ethereum Layer 2.
Summary
Robinhood Chain collected $4.5 million in fees on September 3 while paying Ethereum just $398. Bitquery counted 597 million transactions through September 3 and roughly $23 million in cumulative fees. Ethereum blobs provide Robinhood Chain data availability while ETH remains the network’s native gas token. L2Beat says only two whitelisted actors can challenge Robinhood Chain state updates on Ethereum today. Arbitrum receives 10% of Robinhood Chain net protocol revenue under its Expansion Program license terms. Bitquery reported that Robinhood Chain charged users $4,503,705 that day, while approximately $396 went toward Ethereum data posting and another $2 toward proving results. Its calculation produced a fee-to-settlement-cost ratio of roughly 11,400 to one.
The figures support part of an analysis published Sept. 20 by South Korea’s Digital Asset, which argued that rapid Layer 2 growth does not necessarily create proportional economic value on Ethereum mainnet. The publication’s conclusion is an analysis, however, while the underlying fee, architecture and settlement figures can be checked separately.
Robinhood Chain generated $4.5M while settlement stayed cheap Bitquery examined Robinhood Chain from its first block on April 30 through Sept. 3 and counted approximately 597 million transactions across 54 million blocks. By the end of that period, the network had generated roughly $23 million in cumulative transaction fees.
Most of the revenue arrived late in the period. Bitquery found that around 70% of cumulative fees came from Aug. 24 onward as the network’s base fee moved away from its 0.02 gwei floor. Daily fees jumped from $54,701 on Aug. 22 to $4.50 million on Sept. 3 as gas consumption roughly tripled.
The Sept. 3 Ethereum bill was far smaller. Bitquery calculated an exact execution-layer component and estimated blob charges after sampling 24 batch receipts across the day. It arrived at approximately $396 for posting data and $2 for proof-related costs. Even pricing every sampled blob batch at the highest rate observed that day would have left the settlement bill far below Robinhood Chain’s user fees.
Bitquery cautioned that the difference should not be read as Robinhood’s profit. Its calculation excludes staff, hardware, infrastructure, development, compliance and other operating expenses that are not recorded directly in the chain’s transaction ledger.
Nor does the $398 represent revenue received by an entity called Ethereum. It measures Robinhood Chain’s cost of using Ethereum for settlement-related activity. Ethereum’s fee mechanics distribute or burn different components according to protocol rules.
Digital Asset separately cited roughly $49,000 in cumulative on-chain costs paid to Ethereum since late April, averaging close to $370 per day over the period it examined. The publication used that comparison to argue that L2 transaction growth and Ethereum’s direct fee capture can diverge sharply.
Cheap Ethereum blobs are working as designed Robinhood’s own technical documentation describes Robinhood Chain as an Arbitrum Layer 2 built on Ethereum. It uses ETH as its native gas asset and publishes transaction data through Ethereum blobs.
Ethereum’s documentation describes EIP-4844 blobs as deliberately inexpensive temporary data space created mainly for rollups. Blobs use a separate fee market from ordinary execution gas and allow Layer 2 systems to publish compressed transaction information at much lower cost.
Ethereum therefore designed the mechanism to reduce rollup settlement costs. Its Proto-Danksharding documentation says cheaper blob storage is intended to lower Layer 2 costs while letting those networks continue using Ethereum for data availability.
The Sept. 3 gap between $4.5 million of Layer 2 fees and roughly $398 of Ethereum settlement costs is consistent with that architecture. It does not by itself demonstrate a malfunction in Ethereum’s scaling model.
Digital Asset’s author took a different economic question from the same data. The analysis argued that if most user payments remain on a company-operated L2 while Ethereum supplies cheap data availability, higher transaction volume does not automatically create a similar rise in Ethereum mainnet fees or ETH burned through Layer 1 execution.
Ethereum still supplies a function Robinhood currently uses directly. L2Beat says all data needed to construct Robinhood Chain’s state and proofs is published on Ethereum using blobs or calldata, while the chain maintains a challenge period of six days and eight hours.
The current design is not technically locked to every feature forever. A future operator could change some chain parameters through upgrades, but Robinhood’s live documentation currently specifies Ethereum for data availability and ETH for gas.
As previous Robinhood Chain architecture coverage reported, the public mainnet launched July 1 using Arbitrum technology, with tokenized stocks and DeFi products among its principal uses.
Robinhood Chain keeps control over sequencing Low settlement costs are only one difference between activity on Robinhood Chain and transactions executed directly on Ethereum.
L2Beat currently classifies Robinhood Chain in its “Others” category because fewer than five external actors can challenge state updates. Its current risk analysis says only two whitelisted validators can submit challenges against an incorrect state root.
Robinhood Chain has a centralized sequencer with priority over transaction ordering. L2Beat says the operator can extract MEV through that position, while an ArbOS transaction-filtering feature lets an authorized filterer cause selected transaction hashes to fail even if users try to force their inclusion through Ethereum.
The same assessment states that contracts can be upgraded without a user exit window in some configurations. L2Beat labels those characteristics according to its own maturity framework and explicitly says its stages are an opinionated assessment, not a direct security rating.
At the same time, the network does publish the data required for proof construction to Ethereum. L2Beat lists Ethereum as Robinhood Chain’s data-availability layer and reports no ongoing data-submission anomaly at its latest check.
Current activity remains high. L2Beat showed Robinhood Chain securing roughly $2.99 billion in value at the latest check, with about 114 user operations per second during the preceding day. Its value-secured figure is not the same metric as DeFi TVL and should not be presented interchangeably with deposits reported by other data providers.
Robinhood publicly opened the mainnet on July 1 after earlier restricted activity. The company said Uniswap, Pleiades, Alchemy, BitGo and Chainlink were among the ecosystem and infrastructure providers supporting the network.
That timing explains why Bitquery can measure transactions back to April 30 even though Robinhood’s official public-mainnet launch occurred two months later. L2Beat records July 1 as the date Robinhood removed the transaction-access whitelist.
As recent Robinhood Chain activity coverage reported, RWA-related trading reached a record $390 million in early September, with tokenized stocks and memecoin-stock pairs contributing to the activity.
Arbitrum captures revenue that Ethereum does not One part of the original value-capture argument needs another qualification: the spread between Robinhood Chain user fees and Ethereum settlement costs does not all remain with Robinhood.
Under the Arbitrum Expansion Program, Robinhood Chain must return 10% of its net protocol revenue to the Arbitrum ecosystem because it uses Arbitrum technology while settling outside Arbitrum One. The arrangement directs 8% to the ArbitrumDAO treasury and 2% to the Arbitrum Developer Guild.
Arbitrum’s Sept. 2 financial update provided evidence that this revenue-sharing arrangement is operating. The Foundation said Expansion Program licensing fees reached $360,000 in July and accounted for 35% of ArbitrumDAO income that month, Robinhood Chain’s first month on public mainnet.
The license applies to net protocol revenue, not gross transaction fees. The $4.5 million Bitquery measured on Sept. 3 therefore cannot simply be multiplied by 10% to determine Arbitrum’s payment without first calculating the applicable net-revenue base.
As earlier Robinhood revenue-share coverage explained, the Arbitrum arrangement gives a separate ecosystem an economic claim on Robinhood Chain activity even though the L2 settles to Ethereum.
Bitquery’s latest fee investigation identified another reason the Sept. 3 number rose so quickly. Eight contract addresses produced 79% of the increase in gas demand from the preceding period, including a swap router, an order-settlement contract, ERC-4337 entry points and aggregators.
One swap router handled 1.7 million transactions and paid approximately $1.1 million in fees on Sept. 3. A group of 31 wallets linked through common funding sent nearly 695,000 transactions to an order-settlement contract and paid roughly $692,000. Bitquery described the transaction patterns as consistent with heavy automated trading, while noting that blockchain flows alone do not establish who controls the addresses.
By Sept. 10, Robinhood Chain gas revenue had fallen to roughly $944,000 even though transaction counts remained close to early-September levels, according to later network reporting. The change showed that the Sept. 3 fee total was not a stable daily run rate.
However, Ethereum’s direct settlement bill, Robinhood Chain’s sequencer economics and Arbitrum’s licensing revenue therefore measure three different parts of the same stack. Bitquery’s Sept. 3 data shows a very large gap between the amount users paid on the L2 and the cost of posting its activity to Ethereum; it does not establish that the entire difference became Robinhood profit or that Ethereum received no economic benefit from the network.
Vitalik Buterin, the prodigy behind Ethereum, has made it clear that he does not intend to abandon privacy, which remains the core idea in crypto.
"It’s only dead if you give up," Buterin wrote in a recent X post. "I’m not giving up on privacy. I’m doubling down."
The terse statement comes after privacy became a technical priority for Ethereum. Work is now spanning wallets, transaction inclusion, private blockchain queries, as well as shielded transfers.
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"CROPS" Back in March, Buterin argued that Ethereum should think of itself as part of an ecosystem of what he called “sanctuary technologies.”
The Canadian Ethereum co-founder aspires to create open-source infrastructure that would enable people to transact and communicate without facing government pressure. Privacy and individual autonomy were the key pillars of his vision.
Later, Buterin said that Ethereum should not compromise on four core properties: censorship resistance, open source, privacy, and security (he used the "CROPS" acronym to describe these).
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On May 20, he outlined Ethereum's path toward "native privacy," including account abstraction, keyed nonces, access-layer work, and so on.
Buterin urged the Ethereum Foundation to specifically concentrate resources on keeping Ethereum censorship-resistant, private, and secure.
In August, Buterin compared Ethereum's current development "Strawmap" with his 2023 roadmap and pointed to one particularly significant change: "first-class attention to strong privacy."
What Ethereum is actually doing about privacyEthereum users can easily inspect addresses, balances, and transactions, which is the opposite of privacy. Public blockchain networks specifically place a strong emphasis on transparency.
However, Ethereum's current privacy roadmap is focused on enhancing privacy with private reads, private writes and private proving.
Private reads are meant to prevent infrastructure providers from learning exactly what a user is looking at.
Private writes concern what happens when the user actually sends a transaction.
One proposed piece of this puzzle is FOCIL, which is meant to make it much harder for a powerful block builder to simply refuse to process transactions associated with a privacy protocol.
Ethereum researchers are also considering a protocol-level shielded pool for ETH and ERC-20 transfers.
Buterin has also been unusually vocal about the subject during longer-form appearances.
During a Bankless interview in August 2025, he described privacy as a fundamental part of the original cypherpunk movement. "Privacy is freedom," he said.
Robinhood Chain recorded approximately $4.5 million in user fees on September 3, while payments to the Ethereum network for settlement and data posting stood at just $398, according to transaction data from Bitquery cited by South Korean outlet Digital Asset. The sizable gulf between gross Layer 2 fees and Ethereum’s settlement income has raised questions about economic value capture in Ethereum’s rollup ecosystem.
Robinhood Chain operates as an Ethereum Layer 2 network using Arbitrum’s technology. Nearly all of the user fees paid on September 3 remained on the execution layer, reflecting the model in which Layer 2s collect revenue from activity while paying a comparatively small amount to Ethereum for settlement and data storage services.
Bitquery data showed that Robinhood Chain’s daily fee total on that date was about 11,000 times larger than the payment made to Ethereum. While this stark ratio has highlighted the growing dominance of Layer 2 chains in collecting user fees, it also underlines the differing roles played by the execution and settlement layers in Ethereum’s scaling model.
Most of the funds collected as fees by Robinhood Chain cover user transactions, but only a fraction is passed on to Ethereum for its role in recording, securing, and verifying these transactions. This disconnect is important because it signals that rapid fee growth on Layer 2 does not necessarily translate into higher revenue for the Ethereum mainnet.
Bitquery data indicated that Robinhood Chain gathered $4.5 million in daily user fees while forwarding just $398 to Ethereum in settlement and data fees, illustrating the widening gap between execution and settlement layer revenues.
This pattern is not unique to Robinhood Chain; many rollups are structured to maximize cost efficiency for users while purchasing only essential settlement services from the base layer. The emphasis on compressed data, blob pricing, and proof optimization can further reduce the proportion paid to Ethereum, regardless of how much activity occurs on Layer 2.
Explaining the Layer 2 fee modelUnder Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap, transaction execution and settlement are separated. Robinhood Chain and similar platforms process user transactions on their own infrastructure. They then post summarized data and proofs to Ethereum, which acts as the settlement and data availability layer.
This architecture enables greater transaction throughput and can reduce costs for users. However, it also means that while user activity may soar on the rollup, the base chain receives only a fixed fee based on how much data and proof information is actually posted. Daily fee spikes on Layer 2 therefore do not always result in proportional income for Ethereum operators.
In some cases, elevated fee numbers on Robinhood Chain may include subsidies, incentives for early participants, or even unusually heavy meme token speculation. These factors can inflate short-term fee totals, making a single day’s data unrepresentative of sustainable network demand or recurring profitability.
The phenomenon witnessed on Robinhood Chain is common across the surging meme token sector, where the timing of trades and token selection can turn small investments into substantial gains. For example, Fomo App data pointed to a trade in “Niu Lai” that amplified a $99 position to nearly $370,000, demonstrating the speed and magnitude of meme token market swings. As such, success in this market often hinges on monitoring investor behavior alongside price shifts and trading activity. Platforms like Fomo App provide integrated discovery tools, social feeds, and investor rankings to assist users in navigating these dynamics.
Broader implications for Ethereum and Layer 2sWhile Robinhood Chain’s high daily fees highlight the growing scale of activity on Layer 2s, these figures do not provide a direct measure of net profit for the chain or of long-term economic value delivered to Ethereum itself. Operating expenses, liquidity programs, and incentives can absorb much of the collected fees.
Temporary surges—driven by sponsorships or bursts in speculative meme trading—can make daily figures volatile, disguising the underlying trends in genuine user demand. The difference between gross fees and settlement revenue reiterates that Layer 2 chains act largely as autonomous businesses, purchasing settlement services “as needed” from Ethereum, rather than contributing a fixed share of their fee base.
The distribution of economic rewards between Layer 2s such as Robinhood Chain and Ethereum’s settlement services will likely remain a central discussion point as the rollup ecosystem evolves and competition for user activity intensifies.
Ultimately, the current model allows Ethereum to scale transaction capacity while supporting cheaper execution for end users. However, its income remains closely tied to how much value Layer 2s deliver back to the base chain through data costs and the perceived value of Ethereum’s security guarantees.
TLDR: Ethereum staking demand exceeded exit demand by 13.6 times on September 20, with about 2.48 million ETH waiting to enter the validator set. Roughly 41 million ETH was locked in staking, equal to about 33.5% to 34% of supply, while the validator count approached 900,000. The entry queue created estimated activation waits of 43 to 45 days, as Ethereum processed validator changes at roughly 256 ETH per epoch. ETH technical commentary placed $2,089 as a possible pullback level, while a weekly close above $2,550 would put higher targets in focus. Ethereum news today reveals Ethereum staking demand outpaced exit requests by 13.6 times on September 20. Around 2.48 million ETH awaited activation, while the withdrawal queue held a much smaller balance. New validators faced waits exceeding 40 days as entries moved through protocol limits.
The gap follows an earlier September peak for pending deposits and contrasts sharply with quiet exit conditions. It shows more ETH had been submitted for validation than removal at the measured time. It does not confirm why each holder chose to stake or withdraw.
Ethereum staking had already locked roughly 41 million ETH, or about 33.5% to 34% of supply. The network supported an estimated 885,000 to 900,000 validators. Those figures place the entry queue within a broader trend of increased validator participation. Large operators, including BitMine, contributed to new staking demand. Pectra also gave users more flexibility to consolidate their stake.
Ethereum Staking Queue Shows 13.6 Times More Entries Ethereum staking entries reached about 2.48 million ETH during September. The backlog translated into an estimated 43 to 45-day wait for activation. Earlier in the year, the queue reached about 3.4 million ETH in May. By late September, it stood near 1.8 million ETH, implying an estimated 32-day wait.
13.6X more ETH waiting to be staked. Source: ValidatorQueue The exit queue showed the opposite pattern. It fell to zero ETH at one point in July. In September 2025, exits had totaled roughly 2.67 million ETH. By early January 2026, exit demand had declined more than 99.9%, reflecting the reported queue trend. The comparison highlights how quickly pending validator activity can change.
Ethereum staking entries and exits must pass through a churn mechanism. The network permits roughly 256 ETH of validator changes per epoch, or close to 57,600 ETH daily. The limit slows rapid changes in either direction. The Validator Queue tracker describes churn as a consensus protection measure, rather than a market control.
The rate limit means a sharp rise in exit requests cannot immediately unlock all deposited ETH. Validators must clear the exit queue before their balances become withdrawable. The withdrawal process also includes a sweep period. The final timing varies as the network processes available balances.
Pectra raised the maximum balance for a compounding validator from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH. It also allowed exits through withdrawal credentials. These changes can help operators consolidate validators, although they do not remove the queue. Validator totals therefore do not necessarily equal the number of separate staking entities. It also complicates comparisons across monthly network snapshots.
ETH Price Levels Track Support After Validator Queue Expansion Ethereum staking removes ETH from direct validator balances but does not erase all trading liquidity. Liquid-staking tokens and exchange products can still give holders market exposure. However, a growing validator share changes the immediately accessible supply profile. The queue imbalance alone does not guarantee a price move.
Trader Tardigrade says ETH formed a local top after bouncing from the $1,510 area. He identified the 0.5 Fibonacci retracement near $2,089 as a possible pullback level. The view presents a technical scenario, not a confirmed market outcome. It also depends on the price retaining its wider recovery structure.
Source: Trader Tardigrade on X Another market commentator, Ted, said ETH needs a weekly close above $2,550. He said that level could place the $2,900 to $3,000 range in focus. The market still needs to establish a close above that zone. A rejection below it would leave the stated upside levels unconfirmed.
Staked ETH cannot enter or exit the validator set immediately. New staking demand also takes time to activate. With limits applying to both directions, validator supply changes tend to unfold across days or weeks rather than sessions.
Ethereum’s staking ecosystem saw a significant influx of new deposits, with entry demand outpacing exits by a factor of 13.6 on September 20. Approximately 2.48 million ETH was waiting to be assigned to validator status, while considerably fewer withdrawals lined up in the exit queue. The network’s operational limits created activation waits of roughly 43 to 45 days for incoming validators.
Validator entry surge and network activityStaking participation on Ethereum reached notable levels, with nearly 41 million ETH locked—amounting to about 33.5% to 34% of the circulating supply. The number of validators approached the 900,000 mark, reflecting a broadening trend in user engagement. Large staking providers such as BitMine contributed to the surge in staking entries. Meanwhile, recent upgrades allowed users to consolidate and manage their staked balances more flexibly.
During September, Ethereum’s validator entry queue sustained approximately 2.48 million ETH, triggering prolonged waits for activation. Earlier in the year, May’s backlog peaked at around 3.4 million ETH before declining to 1.8 million ETH by late September, which corresponded to a shorter, 32-day estimated wait. These fluctuations illustrate the dynamic nature of staking demand over time.
By contrast, the exit queue shrank significantly, at times dropping to zero ETH in July. Exits previously topped out near 2.67 million ETH in September 2025 but contracted by over 99.9% by January 2026, signaling limited pressure to withdraw staked ETH during this period.
Ethereum manages validator changes through a process known as the “churn mechanism.” The network enforces a rate limit, currently allowing about 256 ETH worth of validator activations and exits per epoch, or roughly 57,600 ETH per day. This design slows any abrupt increase in inflows or outflows, acting as a safeguard for the protocol’s consensus stability.
Mini dictionary: Validator churn mechanism, a system in Ethereum that limits the number of validators entering or exiting the network per epoch to maintain network stability and prevent sudden shifts in the validator set.
Recent protocol updates, including Pectra, increased the maximum allowed balance for a compounding validator from 32 ETH to 2,048 ETH and introduced enhanced withdrawal options. These changes support more efficient validator management by operators, although the presence of a queue continues to influence activation times.
MetricSeptember 2024May 2024 (Peak)Late September 2024Entry queue (ETH)2.48 million3.4 million1.8 millionActivation wait (days)43–45—32Validator count~900,000——Total staked ETH41 million——Price outlook and staking impactThe ongoing staking activity continues to influence Ethereum’s liquid supply, though not all staked ETH is entirely locked. Holders can still access liquidity via liquid-staking tokens and exchange products. However, the high level of validator engagement reduces the amount of immediately accessible ETH, potentially affecting the broader market structure.
Technical analyst Trader Tardigrade observed that ETH recently formed a local top after rebounding from the $1,510 range. He identified the 0.5 Fibonacci retracement near $2,089 as a possible pullback zone, adding this key level to the broader technical scenario under watch.
Trader Tardigrade noted that ETH may face a pullback toward $2,089, aligning with the 0.5 Fibonacci retracement, but the trend depends on maintaining its overall recovery structure.
Commentator Ted suggested that a weekly close above $2,550 for ETH would be required to focus attention on the $2,900 to $3,000 target area. Failure to establish a close above this zone could leave higher price targets unconfirmed.
Ted stated that a sustained move beyond $2,550 would open the door to $2,900–$3,000, but that threshold needs to be decisively cleared first.
Activation and withdrawal limits mean changes in the staked supply unfold over weeks rather than days, with both inflows and outflows subject to pooling in network queues. Consequently, validator and staking trends are expected to adjust gradually rather than spike dramatically overnight.
Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.
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Robinhood Chain’s cumulative DEX trading volume has exceeded $60 billion, with Pons contributing around $14 billion.
Robinhood’s on-chain token and meme coin issuance platform Pons announced that the cumulative DEX trading volume on Robinhood Chain has surpassed $60 billion, with approximately $14 billion of that volume generated by Pons, which is built on Uniswap v4. Pons stated that it is expanding the scale of on-chain trading markets on Robinhood Chain and is dedicated to building a market open to all participants.
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Cryptocurrency markets absorbed a weekend of escalation in the Middle East alone. The global market cap fell by 4% to $2.76 trillion, while oil, bond, and equity markets remained closed.
Houthi forces struck the Saudi capital Riyadh on Saturday. The US has also warned that the conflict has “the potential to escalate rapidly.”
Oil Closed Lower Before the Weekend TurnedTraders spent last week concluding that Saudi supply risk had been overstated. Brent crude settled at $103.87 on Friday, and West Texas Intermediate closed at $100.30, a third consecutive decline for both.
That reading was priced in before Saturday. Yemen’s Houthis then said they attacked sensitive sites in Riyadh with missiles and drones. Reuters photographed black smoke rising near the King Khalid International Airport.
The Saudi-led coalition said its air defences destroyed a missile fired toward Riyadh early on Saturday. The Iran-backed group separately claimed a strike on an Aramco facility at Yanbu.
It appeared to be the first Houthi attack claimed on Riyadh since the current escalation began. Therefore, the market that closed on Friday priced a different risk picture than the one that exists now.
Follow us on X to get the latest news as it happens
What Monday’s Open Will TestMeanwhile, the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs told Americans across the region to exercise heightened vigilance and warned of flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions.
It said Iranian-supported Houthis have attacked Saudi Arabia, including civilian airports, and that Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target US interests and businesses overseas.
“This military conflict has the potential to escalate rapidly,” the post read.
Trump had separately signaled a decision point on Iran earlier in the week. He told Axios on Thursday that he was weighing whether to restart large-scale attacks.
“I have a big decision coming up. Do I want to go in and annihilate them, or do I not? It’s a big decision. Anything could happen with me,” he said.
Alex Plitsas, a national security analyst at CNN, said on X that Trump’s Camp David meeting was convened to review options for a strike in Yemen. He cautioned in a follow-up post that nothing had been decided.
As I said last night, was told that the POTUS meeting at Camp David was to deliberate and review Yemen strike options. Today, U.S. embassies in Middle Eastern countries that are likely to be targets of retaliatory strikes issued warnings. Now POTUS head to the White House early. https://t.co/LYQtjAzZG3
— Alex Plitsas 🇺🇸 (@alexplitsas) September 20, 2026
Crypto carried all of this while everything else was dark. Bitcoin (BTC) traded near $80,354, down 0.9% over 24 hours yet still up 3.9% on the week. Ethereum (ETH) slipped 1.29% to $2,586.72.
Crypto Market Performance on September 20. Source: BeInCrypto MarketsSmaller assets moved further. Solana (SOL) fell 4.2% to $108.45, and Zcash (ZEC) dropped 5.47% to $1,452.20, a spread that points to risk reduction rather than a haven bid.
Monday’s open will show how oil, bonds, and equities price the weekend. Whether Brent surges will indicate if traditional markets agree with crypto’s weekend repricing.
The Fed raised rates this week and signalled at least one more increase, leaving markets with little room to absorb an oil shock.
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TLDR: Robinhood Chain fees reached about $4.5 million on September 3, while Ethereum received roughly $398 for data posting and proof costs. The reported figures compare gross Layer 2 transaction charges with Ethereum settlement payments, so they do not measure identical revenue streams. Robinhood Chain operates as an Ethereum Layer 2 built with Arbitrum technology, separating transaction execution from settlement and data posting. Subsidized activity, memecoin speculation, or concentrated venues can lift one day’s fees, leaving recurring demand and net earnings unmeasured. Robinhood Chain fees reached about $4.5 million on September 3. Bitquery data cited by South Korean outlet Digital Asset showed the payment to Ethereum. Ethereum received roughly $398 for data posting and proof costs. The gap puts attention on how Ethereum earns from its Layer 2 network. Robinhood Chain ran as an Ethereum Layer 2 built with Arbitrum technology.
Most fees stayed on the execution layer. Ethereum supplied settlement and data availability services for a smaller payment. That distinction matters when comparing fee collection with Ethereum’s settlement costs.
Robinhood Chain Fees Stay High While Ethereum Captures Less Bitquery measured approximately $4.5 million in transaction fees on Robinhood Chain on September 3. The figure represented charges paid by users and collected by the Layer 2 during that day. Ethereum received about $398 for the data posting and proof operations linked to that activity.
Robinhood Chain Collected $4.5M in Daily Fees, Paid Ethereum Just $400
An analysis published by South Korean outlet Digital Asset highlights the gap between Robinhood Chain’s growth and the economic value captured by Ethereum. According to Bitquery, Robinhood Chain collected… pic.twitter.com/TOkK2Hk6IE
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) September 20, 2026
On those reported figures, Robinhood Chain’s daily fee total was roughly 11,000 times Ethereum’s payment. The ratio attracts attention, but it does not compare two identical measures. The first figure reflects gross user charges, while the second reflects a payment for settlement-related services.
That difference does not mean Ethereum received no economic value. Ethereum provided the settlement layer that records and secures Robinhood Chain’s state. It also supplied data availability, allowing other participants to verify the chain’s published information.
Robinhood Chain fees therefore reflect the business model used by many rollups. The Layer 2 sets user charges, pays its settlement costs, and keeps the difference after operating expenses. Users may see lower transaction costs, while the base layer receives payment for a narrower technical service.
Under this model, Ethereum revenue can vary with data demand and the cost of posting batches. Compression, blob pricing, and proof requirements can alter the amount paid to the mainnet. Higher user activity does not always produce a matching increase in the Layer 1 payment.
Why Layer 2 Fees do not Equal Ethereum Revenue Growth Ethereum’s rollup strategy separates transaction execution from settlement. Robinhood Chain executes user activity away from the mainnet, then posts data and proof information to Ethereum. This design can raise capacity without sending every transaction directly through Ethereum’s execution layer.
The difference between Robinhood Chain fees and Ethereum revenue reflects that separation. The L2 can charge users for trading, transfers, or applications. Ethereum receives fees for data availability and settlement, while the rollup controls the remaining spread.
Robinhood Chain fees can also include charges that do not represent operating profit. Part of the daily total may cover sequencer operations, liquidity programs, user incentives, or other expenses. The Digital Asset analysis did not provide a full income statement, so the fee total alone cannot measure net earnings.
Activity may also reflect temporary conditions. Subsidized transactions, memecoin speculation, or concentrated trading on a small number of venues can lift a single day’s total. September 3 therefore provides a snapshot of fee distribution, not a complete measure of recurring demand.
The data also shows why Layer 2 growth does not automatically create proportional Ethereum revenue. More users can strengthen the network while directing a larger share of transaction charges to execution-layer operators. Ethereum’s model depends on settlement demand, data costs, and the value users place on its security.
For Ethereum, Robinhood Chain fees add to a broader debate about how rollups distribute economic value. The network can secure more activity without collecting the majority of each transaction charge. That arrangement supports cheaper execution, but it leaves Ethereum’s direct revenue tied to the services each Layer 2 purchases.
In This Article Inside the Name: Gloas, Amsterdam, and What Comes After FusakaEthereum News Today: The Three Technical Pillars, and Why Q4 Is a Window Not a Promise The biggest item in Ethereum news today isn’t the price tape, with ETH changing hands around $2,586 after a 5.7% daily move, it’s the calendar. Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade now has a firm date attached to it: the Sepolia testnet fork is scheduled for October 6, 2026. That’s genuine progress toward one of the network’s most ambitious scaling overhauls in years. What it isn’t is a launch date. Ethereum’s official roadmap still lists mainnet deployment as expected in Q4 2026, and the page says plainly that the date has not been confirmed.
The distinction matters for anyone tracking ETH’s development pipeline. A testnet fork is a rehearsal, not a production release. The roadmap currently marks Glamsterdam’s status as testing on devnets, with Sepolia flagged as the next milestone rather than a countdown clock to mainnet.
The upgrade’s scope is frozen for the moment, but it can still shift, because the meta Ethereum Improvement Proposal. The master document defining what ships remains in draft form. That’s routine: devnets (short-lived test networks run by client teams) surface bugs, proposals graduate to public testnets like Sepolia, and only then does anything touch live ETH.
I am not sure you are prepared for Glamsterdam on Ethereum pic.twitter.com/O57rRe7XDr
— Ben {chmark} Adams ⟠ (@ben_a_adams) September 16, 2026
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Inside the Name: Gloas, Amsterdam, and What Comes After Fusaka Glamsterdam is a portmanteau of its two halves. Amsterdam is the execution-layer component, named for a past Devconnect host city. Gloas is the consensus-layer component, named after a star. Together they follow the Fusaka upgrade’s foundational refinements and push forward two objectives from Ethereum’s published roadmap: “Scale L1” and “Scale Blobs.”
The underlying goal is to keep the network fast, affordable and decentralized without pricing out the people running nodes from home. Hardware requirements are treated as a constraint rather than an afterthought.
The 200M gas limit test tied to this upgrade cycle is a good illustration of how much groundwork sits between the current devnet phase and a locked production date. Glamsterdam is a step in a longer sequence, not the destination.
Ethereum is getting cheaper while the network keeps getting stronger.
The average Ethereum transfer fee has dropped from $0.715 on April 21 to just $0.094 today, even with ethereum:native trading at a higher market value than during that April peak.
Part of the decline comes… pic.twitter.com/ogXxNFuw9s
— Everstake (@everstake_pool) September 18, 2026
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Ethereum News Today: The Three Technical Pillars, and Why Q4 Is a Window Not a Promise ETHUSDT Chart 1D TradingView Glamsterdam is built around three aims: parallelization, expanded capacity, and keeping the database from bloating.
Enshrined Proposer-Builder Separation (ePBS, EIP-7732)* moves the handoff between block proposers and builders into the protocol itself, reducing dependence on third-party relay middleware. Per the roadmap, it also widens the block-propagation window from roughly two seconds to about nine, using a new Payload Timeliness Committee and dual-deadline logic.
Block-Level Access Lists (BALs, EIP-7928) hand validators an upfront map of which transactions touch which data, enabling parallel disk reads and faster node syncing. A companion networking change, Block Access List Exchange (eth/71, EIP-8159), gives nodes a way to actually exchange those lists.
State-creation gas repricing (EIP-8037)* targets predictable database growth of roughly 120 GiB per year. Developers are calibrating at a 150M reference block gas limit to tune that pricing ahead of the 200M gas limit floor the upgrade would eventually unlock.
Taken together, this is a reorganization of how Ethereum processes transactions and manages an on-chain database that grows with every block. But the mainnet timing still depends on what further devnet and testnet runs turn up. For traders reading the roadmap for near-term catalysts, that’s the practical takeaway from this Ethereum news: the upgrade cadence is real and moving, but Q4 2026 stays a target window until testnet data says otherwise.
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Ethereum just delivered its best third-quarter performance in history, gaining roughly 60.62% as of mid-September 2026. For an asset that spent the first six months of the year bleeding value, that’s the kind of comeback that makes you wonder if the market has a flair for the dramatic.
The rally didn’t happen in a vacuum. Spot Ethereum ETF inflows crossed $10 billion cumulatively during the quarter, corporate treasuries scooped up more than $15 billion worth of ETH, and the DeFi ecosystem swelled to approximately $88 billion in total value locked across Ethereum and its Layer-2 networks. Bitcoin, by comparison, posted a relatively sleepy 6-10% gain over the same stretch.
From freefall to face-ripper Context matters here. Ethereum entered Q3 2026 carrying the bruises of two consecutive losing quarters: a 29.26% decline in Q1 followed by a 25.28% drop in Q2.
The average historical Q3 return for ETH sits at around 12.28%. Posting a 60.62% gain doesn’t just beat that average, it quintuples it. The quarter’s performance ranks as the second-best Q3 ever for ETH, trailing only the 66.55% gain recorded in Q3 2025 and edging past the 59.5% rally in Q3 2020.
Price action told the story vividly. ETH traded above $4,000 at various points during the quarter and even approached the psychologically important $5,000 level before a late-September pullback brought it back to the $2,400-$2,623 range.
Institutional money showed up in force The most structurally significant development wasn’t the price chart itself but what was happening underneath it. Spot Ethereum ETF inflows exceeded $10 billion on a cumulative basis, with nearly $4 billion of that arriving in August alone.
Corporate treasury purchases added another layer. More than $15 billion in ETH was acquired by corporate entities during Q3.
DeFi’s quiet contribution While ETF flows grabbed the headlines, the DeFi ecosystem did its part to reinforce the fundamental case. Total value locked across Ethereum and its associated Layer-2 networks reached approximately $88 billion by the end of Q3. That figure represents the combined capital deployed across lending protocols, decentralized exchanges, liquid staking platforms, and a growing number of real-world asset applications.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Tether just pushed $500 million in freshly minted USDT onto the Solana blockchain in less than 60 minutes.
The massive mint adds to Solana’s existing USDT supply, which currently sits at approximately $3.8 billion to $4 billion in native SPL-standard tokens. While that’s a meaningful chunk of stablecoin liquidity, it still trails far behind the Tron network, which remains the dominant highway for USDT circulation globally.
Why Solana, and why now Tether first deployed USDT on Solana back in September 2020, betting early on the network’s high throughput and low transaction costs.
The timing of this particular mint is worth noting. Circle, the issuer of rival stablecoin USDC, minted $250 million on Solana around the same period. When two of the largest stablecoin issuers are simultaneously flooding the same chain with fresh supply, it usually means one thing: someone needs liquidity, and they need it fast.
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Tether has also been active on other chains during this period, executing significant transfers including a $500 million USDT movement to Binance via Solana. The company continues to operate across multiple blockchains simultaneously, with Tron and Ethereum remaining its largest venues by total supply, but Solana is clearly gaining ground as a preferred rail for high-volume operations.
Solana’s stablecoin infrastructure play The $3.8 billion to $4 billion in native USDT on Solana represents a substantial but still secondary presence compared to the tens of billions circulating on Tron.
For Solana’s broader ecosystem, stablecoin liquidity acts as a foundational layer. DeFi protocols need stablecoins for lending, borrowing, and providing liquidity pairs. Trading platforms need them for settlement.
The competitive dynamic between Solana, Tron, and Ethereum for stablecoin market share has become one of the quieter but more consequential races in crypto infrastructure. Tron still dominates USDT volume largely because of its entrenched position in peer-to-peer transfers across Asia and emerging markets. Ethereum commands the largest DeFi ecosystem. Solana is carving out its niche by offering speed and cost advantages that appeal to both retail and institutional users.
What the liquidity surge signals Market observers generally read large stablecoin mints as leading indicators rather than lagging ones. The logic is straightforward: new USDT doesn’t get minted for fun. Someone deposits dollars (or dollar-equivalent collateral) with Tether, and Tether issues tokens in return. A $500 million mint means $500 million in demand showed up at the door.
That demand could come from several sources. Institutional trading desks preparing for large positions often pre-stage stablecoin liquidity. DeFi protocols experiencing growth need deeper stablecoin pools to function efficiently. And exchanges frequently request new mints when their reserves run low relative to trading volume.
The fact that both Tether and Circle are simultaneously expanding supply on Solana specifically suggests the network is becoming a preferred venue for whatever activity is driving this demand.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
Ethereum [ETH] surged by 6.5% in the last 24 hours to trade at $2,618.67 at press time. This is a level the altcoin last saw back in January 2026. The timing here is interesting since the global cryptocurrency market cap also climbed to $2.88 trillion following gains of 4.6%.
Source: X What is also interesting is that the said recovery followed several developments that would normally put significant pressure on risk assets.
For context, over the past week, the CLARITY Act failed to advance in the Senate and the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points. Additionally, the Bank of Japan also raised rates while the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) moved back above 100 and and oil prices increased.
Not just a price playdate And yetm Ethereum saw a surge in whale transactions. This, and its holder base, continued to expand, with a record 207.17 million non-empty wallets. Staking is another major factor that has supported long-term ETH demand.
With more than 40 million ETH currently staked, there has been a significant removal of ETH from immediately available market supply.
Source: Santiment At the same time, Ethereum has remained a major hub for decentralized finance (DeFi), securing roughly $50 billion in TVL across lending platforms, decentralized exchanges, stablecoin applications and liquid-staking protocols.
Finally, ETH ETFs also flipped the three-day outflow streak with $143.7 million in inflows.
Source: Farside Investors Other altcoins also surfed the bullish momentum Needless to say, besides Ethereum, Bitcoin [BTC] moved back above $80,000, while several major altcoins recorded more significant gains.
Source: Santiment For instance, Solana [SOL] and Hyperliquid [HYPE] hiked by more than 10% and Uniswap [UNI] gained by around 16%.
Is there still some uncertainty around? However, not everything may be as rosy as it seems. The Ethereum Foundation transferred approximately $2.45 million worth of ETH to an unlabeled Gnosis Safe, a type of smart contract wallet commonly used for managing funds collectively or securely.
Source: Arkham Now, because the receiving wallet is unlabeled, it is not yet clear whether it is directly controlled by the Ethereum Foundation or belongs to another entity.
The transfer, therefore, does not necessarily mean that the foundation is selling ETH or reducing its holdings. This, because on-chain data reportedly shows that the Foundation still holds around $235.46 million worth of ETH and $23 million in USDC.
Final Summary Ethereum’s recent gains were recorded despite several negative developments that would have impacted its bullish momentum. Besides ETH and BTC, several altcoins saw massive surges, with some seeing weekly hikes of over 45%.
Global NFT sales volume fell 15.28% to $37.54 million over the latest seven-day period, even as the number of buyer and seller addresses more than doubled.
Summary
NFT sales dropped 15.28% to $37.54 million, from approximately $44.31 million a week earlier. Buyer addresses rose 174.04%, while seller addresses increased 151.72%. Ethereum led with $15.32 million in sales despite a 2.66% weekly decline. Bitcoin NFT sales plunged 53.99% to $4.33 million. Courtyard led collections, while Alchemix V3 Transmuter #219 sold for $770,985. According to data from CryptoSlam, captured on Sep. 19 with the “7 Days” setting selected, NFT sales declined while participation measures moved sharply higher.
Buyer addresses increased 174.04% to 114,977, while seller addresses rose 151.72% to 108,037. Those figures represent blockchain addresses rather than confirmed individual users.
The number of NFT transactions moved in the opposite direction, falling 9.08% to 808,432. The combination of more active addresses and fewer transactions showed that activity was spread across a larger pool of wallets, though CryptoSlam’s figures alone do not show whether those addresses belonged to new market participants.
The NFT decline occurred alongside a rebound in the wider crypto market. Bitcoin traded near $81,311, and Ethereum changed hands at approximately $2,647 when the market data was checked. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood near $2.79 trillion, according to CoinGecko.
The NFT and cryptocurrency market moves were concurrent, but the available data did not establish a direct causal relationship between them.
Ethereum leads NFT sales with $15.3 million Ethereum remained the leading blockchain for organic NFT sales, generating $15.32 million during the seven-day period. Sales decreased 2.66%, while buyer addresses climbed 63.82% to 13,546.
Ethereum leads weekly NFT blockchain sales | Source: CryptoSlam The network also recorded $443,802 in wash-trading volume, down 52.41%. Including that activity, Ethereum’s total volume reached $15.76 million, a 5.44% decline.
Polygon ranked second by organic sales with $7.09 million, down 4.88%. The blockchain recorded 26,588 buyer addresses, up 91.47%.
Wash trading played a much larger role in Polygon’s figures. CryptoSlam identified $18.07 million in wash volume, lifting the network’s combined total to $25.15 million. Organic sales and wash trading are separate measures and should not be added when assessing ordinary NFT purchases.
Bitcoin placed third with $4.33 million in sales, representing a 53.99% weekly drop. Buyer addresses nevertheless climbed 141.29% to 5,441. The contrast showed that more Bitcoin addresses interacted with NFTs even as the dollar value of recorded sales fell.
BNB Chain followed with $2.58 million, down 36.26%. Its buyer count rose 384.73% to 10,732, the largest percentage increase among the six leading blockchains.
Base was the only top-five network to record higher organic sales. Volume increased 4.06% to $2.16 million, while buyer addresses surged 253.04% to 2,323. CryptoSlam also recorded $4.8 million in wash volume on Base, up 79.91%.
Solana ranked sixth with $1.89 million in sales, down 11.08%. Its 25,301 buyer addresses represented a 164.90% increase.
Together, the six leading networks generated approximately $33.36 million in organic sales, accounting for nearly 89% of the global total.
Courtyard tops weekly NFT collection sales Courtyard on Polygon remained the leading NFT collection with $6.3 million in sales, down 0.93%. The tokenized collectibles marketplace recorded 123,504 transactions, up 21.52%, involving 18,459 buyer addresses and 14,921 seller addresses.
Courtyard tops weekly NFT collection sales | CryptoSlam Ethereum-based Argonauts ranked second with $2.74 million, following a 36.91% decline. Transactions dropped 48.15% to 1,204, while buyer and seller addresses fell to 422 and 490, respectively.
Alchemix V3 Transmuter placed third after sales jumped 622.03% to $1.83 million. Almost all that volume came from eight transactions involving four buyer and three seller addresses.
The concentration matters because Alchemix V3 Transmuter tokens appear to be linked to positions within a decentralized finance protocol rather than conventional artwork or profile-picture collectibles. CryptoSlam classified the transfers as NFT sales, but the dashboard did not independently establish the economic purpose of each transaction.
Guild of Guardians Heroes on Immutable-Zk generated $986,168, up 3.5%. Its 689 transactions involved 390 buyer addresses and 399 seller addresses.
Panini America ranked fifth with $893,356 in weekly sales, an increase of 19.27%. The sports collectibles collection recorded 13,469 transactions, although buyer addresses declined 24.18% to 762. The collection provided a direct link to the U.S. sports card segment within the week’s NFT rankings.
Bitcoin-based $ATMC BRC-20 NFTs followed with $716,730, down 20.32%. CryptoPunks placed seventh with $706,667 after sales declined 37.39%, with nine transactions involving eight buyers and nine sellers.
Alchemix leads high-value NFT sales Alchemix V3 Transmuter tokens accounted for four of the five largest individual transactions recorded during the seven-day period.
Top NFT collectible sales this week | Source: CryptoSlam Alchemix V3 Transmuter #219 led the list at $770,985.44. The Ethereum-based token changed hands for 297.4017 WETH about 15 hours before the dashboard snapshot.
Alchemix V3 Transmuter #214 ranked second with a $715,216 sale settled in 284.8951 WETH five days earlier. The two leading tokens were sold by and transferred to the same respective blockchain addresses.
The third-largest sale came from Bitcoin. A $X@AI BRC-20 NFT sold for $402,534.35, or 5.19 BTC, five days before the snapshot.
Alchemix V3 Transmuter #216 followed with a $196,748.70 transaction involving 79.98 WETH two days earlier.
Alchemix V3 Transmuter #208 completed the top five after selling for $126,695.23, or 49.8681 WETH, seven days earlier. Together, the four Alchemix transactions generated approximately $1.81 million, accounting for nearly all the collection’s reported weekly sales.
Jiang Zhuoer, founder of crypto mining pool BTC.TOP, stated in a post that after several months of trading, his coin-based profit reached 34%, and his USDT-denominated profit hit 92%, nearly doubling. The keys to profitability are position sizing, trading strategies, and coin selection. One must incorporate market sentiment into trading to grasp its nuances. We are now in a bull market cycle; his default position is full spot holdings of Ethereum (ETH). Apart from several recent short positions, the more critical approach is to hold spot ETH fully long-term, as shorting only serves to mitigate drawdowns after spot prices rise.
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TLDR: Ethereum price breaks above $2.63K as whale activity rises, and non-empty wallets reach a record 207.17M. More than 40M ETH is staked, while Ethereum DeFi holds roughly $50B in total value locked across markets. Analysts spot $2,800 and higher levels ahead, but those targets depend on resistance holding or breaking. Ethereum’s wallet, staking, and DeFi growth adds utility beyond simple price speculation for holders now. The Ethereum price climbed above $2.63K on Friday, reaching its highest level since January. Santiment reported rising whale transactions as ETH pushed higher.
The move coincides with record network participation and stronger on-chain activity. Ethereum now has 207.17 million non-empty wallets, according to Santiment data.
ETH was trading at $2,651.97 in the latest price data by CoinGecko. The token gained 5.63% over 24 hours and 4.80% across seven days.
ETH price on CoinGecko Ethereum Price Gains Meet Rising Whale Activity The increase in whale transactions adds another dimension to Ethereum’s latest price recovery. Large transactions generally indicate greater activity among holders controlling substantial ETH balances.
However, rising whale activity does not identify whether those holders are buying or selling. Traders therefore need to distinguish transaction activity from direct accumulation.
Ethereum’s holder base is also expanding. Santiment recorded a new high of 207.17 million wallets containing non-zero ETH balances.
That figure reflects wallet addresses rather than unique individuals or investors. One user can control multiple addresses, so the metric measures network participation differently.
🐋 Ethereum has pushed above $2.63K Friday, its highest market value since January. At the same time, whale transactions are climbing, showing large holders are becoming increasingly active as $ETH breaks higher.
📈 The #2 market cap’s holder base is expanding alongside price.… pic.twitter.com/3IDPlzR7FN
— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) September 18, 2026
Ethereum’s price structure has also attracted attention from market analysts. DamiDefi said ETH completed a breakout from its one-year downtrend and gained roughly 41% afterward.
The analyst now identifies a major resistance zone around current levels. A sustained break could expose $2,800 first, followed by $3,300 to $3,400, according to the analyst.
Staking and DeFi Strengthen Ethereum’s Network Utility Ethereum’s expanding holder base sits alongside significant staking activity. More than 40 million ETH is currently staked across the network.
Staking allows ETH holders to help secure Ethereum while earning rewards. Pooled staking also gives smaller holders access without operating their own validators.
DeFi provides another use case for ETH beyond holding. Santiment estimates roughly $50 billion in total value locked across Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem.
That ecosystem includes stablecoins, lending platforms, decentralized exchanges, and liquid-staking applications. These markets create demand for ETH within financial applications rather than simple price speculation.
Another analyst, Cryptocupra, compared the current structure with Ethereum’s earlier bottom, retest, and expansion cycles. The analyst projected potential levels of $4,200, $7,000, and above $12,000.
THIS $ETH CHART IS FUCKING INSANE.
THE EXACT SAME STRUCTURE THAT LAUNCHED ETHEREUM FROM DOUBLE DIGITS INTO THOUSANDS IS PRINTING AGAIN.
BOTTOM → RETEST → EXPANSION.
WE ARE RIGHT AT THE LAUNCH ZONE.
$4,200 GETS ERASED.
$7,000 IS NEXT.
THEN $12,000+ ENTERS THE CONVERSATION.… pic.twitter.com/ruAN2J8mbY
— Cup (@cryptocupra) September 19, 2026
Those figures represent an analyst forecast rather than established price targets. ETH must first navigate the current resistance area before those scenarios become technically relevant.
For traders, the immediate focus remains price acceptance above resistance. For investors, whale activity, staking, wallet growth, and DeFi usage provide broader network context.
Ethereum’s latest move therefore combines price momentum with expanding network participation. The key mechanism is simple: more ETH remains engaged through staking and applications while market activity increases.
Per TradingBeats monitoring, "Big Brother Ma Ji" Huang Lichang added to his long positions in Ethereum (ETH) and HYPE ten minutes ago, lifting his total position size to $130 million. His current positions are as follows: ETH long positions worth approximately $86.34 million, with an unrealized profit of ~$4.05 million, entry price of $2,516.72, and liquidation price of $2,518.34; BTC long positions of ~$40.26 million, with an unrealized profit of ~$250,000, entry price of $80,845.90, and liquidation price of $73,334.33; HYPE long positions of ~$5.15 million, with an unrealized loss of ~$10,000, entry price of $92.54, and liquidation price of $18.38.
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Ethereum surged above $2,650 on Friday, marking its highest value since January amid a notable increase in activity from large holders and growth in wallet numbers. Data from Santiment indicated that whale transactions contributed to the latest price movement, with ETH trading at $2,651.97, reflecting a 5.63% rise over 24 hours and a 4.80% gain over the past week.
Whale transactions and address growthWhale transactions, typically representing significant activity by major holders with large ETH balances, rose in tandem with Ethereum’s price. Santiment emphasized that these transactions do not necessarily reveal whether whales are buying or selling, but the increased volume highlights their growing engagement in the market.
Ethereum’s holder base also reached a new milestone, with the number of addresses containing a non-zero ETH balance climbing to 207.17 million. While this figure counts total wallet addresses rather than unique users, it demonstrates a sustained increase in network participation.
“Ethereum has pushed above $2,630, its highest value since January. At the same time, whale transactions are climbing, showing that large holders are becoming increasingly active as $ETH breaks higher,” Santiment noted in a recent update.
Santiment’s data show that the acceleration in whale and address activity has coincided with overall bullish sentiment. Market observers tracking on-chain activity use these statistics to monitor shifts in market structure and potential momentum swings.
Price analysis and resistance levelsTechnical analysts such as DamiDefi observed that ETH recently broke out from its year-long downtrend, delivering an approximate 41% gain following the breakout. The analyst identified a resistance zone near current levels, estimating that a sustained move higher could open the path to $2,800 and potentially to $3,300 or $3,400, provided ETH holds above resistance.
Technical projections see significant resistance around present values, with upward targets of $2,800 in the near term and $3,300 to $3,400 as further milestones if momentum continues.
Other analysts, including Cryptocupra, compared the present price structure to previous bottom and expansion phases in Ethereum’s history, projecting hypothetical scenarios for substantial future gains. These are market opinions rather than definitive forecasts and depend on Ethereum overcoming established resistance before higher price targets can be considered.
Staking, DeFi activity, and network utilityNetwork utility has strengthened alongside price appreciation. More than 40 million ETH is currently staked, supporting Ethereum’s security and yielding staking rewards. This staking activity includes both independent validators and pooled services, making participation accessible to smaller holders.
Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem remains robust, with approximately $50 billion in total value locked across decentralized applications such as stablecoin platforms, lending protocols, and decentralized exchanges. These DeFi services boost engagement by providing uses for ETH beyond direct speculation.
Wallet growth, combined with staking and DeFi activity, underscores Ethereum’s expanded functionality as a network.
Mini dictionary: DeFi (Decentralized Finance), a sector of blockchain technology that replaces traditional financial intermediaries with smart contracts and decentralized applications, enabling peer-to-peer transactions, lending, stablecoins, and yield-generating protocols on networks like Ethereum.
As traders watch price acceptance above short-term resistance, investors focus on whale activity, staking behavior, and ongoing growth in DeFi participation for broader clues about network health.
MetricValueETH price (latest)$2,651.97Non-empty wallets207.17 millionETH stakedOver 40 millionEthereum DeFi TVL$50 billionEthereum’s recent surge integrates price momentum with expanding network participation, driven by staking and increased use of DeFi applications.
A widely followed crypto analyst on X is highlighting Ethereum’s (ETH) contained position in a four-hour channel for a potential major surge.
Pseudonymous crypto strategist Ali tells his 166,400 followers that Ethereum looks bullish after holding support at around $2,375.
According to the analyst, he sees Ethereum surging to as high as $3,000 if it takes out resistance at $2,570.
“ETHEREUM: ALL EYES ON $2,570
Despite the volatility over the past few days, Ethereum remains contained within its 4-hour channel.
Now that price has reached the lower boundary, I’m watching for ETH to rebound toward the mid-range and eventually the upper boundary near $2,570.
That’s the key level.
A strong 4-hour close above $2,570, backed by volume, could confirm a breakout and open the door to $2,700 and potentially $3,000.”
Source: Ali/X Earlier this week, Ali said hundreds of millions of dollars of ETH had been taken out of crypto exchanges, suggesting investors are looking to hold their Ethereum stacks long-term.
“$350 MILLION IN ETHEREUM LEAVES EXCHANGES
Over the past 96 hours, roughly 140,000 ETH, worth around $350 million, have been withdrawn from exchanges.
That suggests investors are increasingly choosing to hold rather than trade.
With less ETH available on exchanges, potential sell-side pressure is declining, strengthening the case for a bullish breakout.”
Ethereum (ETH) price is up 5% today, September 19, to trade at $2,640 at the time of writing. ETH trading volumes have also jumped by 41% to $20.45 billion, per CoinMarketCap data.
The gains come on the back of rising open interest, growing whale interest, and a bullish outlook from analysts.
Analyst Forecasts Ethereum Price Rally to $3,000 Analyst Ted Pillows on X notes that Ethereum price could move towards $2,900 and $3,000 next. However, he notes that this gain will only occur if ETH can close above $2,550.
The analyst also pointed out to Ethereum’s one-week chart, noting that if ETH value does not move above the resistance at $2,550, it might drop to test support at $2,291, with a move below this support set to push ETH lower to $2,190.
Analyst Ali Charts also shares a similar bullish Ethereum future outlook, noting that if the largest altcoin confirms a strong 4-hour close above $2,570 on the back of strong buy volumes, it will confirm a bullish move towards the psychological resistance of $3,000.
These bullish projections come after Ethereum price closed above $2,600 for the first time since January 31.
Ethereum’s Open Interest Climbs to a 4-Month High as Longs Dominate Data from CoinGlass shows that Ethereum’s open interest has reached $31.48 billion, with this being the highest OI reading since mid-May 2026.
The surge comes despite $140 million worth of short positions being liquidated from the Ethereum futures market between September 18 and 19.
Ethereum Open Interest (Source: CoinGlass) The rising open interest likely comes from long traders who are betting that Ethereum price might continue to climb. This is because the long/short ratio for Ethereum on CoinGlass has risen to 1.065, suggesting that there are more long accounts than short accounts.
The bullish bias in the futures market is further seen with the weighted funding rate that has risen to 0.0098%, suggesting that long buyers are paying more to keep their positions open.
ETH ETFs Post First Weekly Outflow Since August Despite Rising Price Data from SoSoValue shows that there were $140 million in weekly outflows from Ethereum ETFs in the week between September 14 and September 18.
This marks the first time that the ETFs have recorded negative weekly flows since August 14.
ETH ETF Inflows/Outflows (Source: SoSoValue) The outflows come on the back of a macro-packed week where the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the first time since 2023.
The outflows were also exacerbated by the CLARITY Act failing to secure the 60 votes needed for the bill to pass into law.
Still, Santiment data notes that Ethereum whale activity rose significantly during the week, while the number of ETH non-empty wallets also climbed to 207.17 million, with this being the highest number of Ethereum non-empty wallets in history.
This points towards a potential surge in buy-side pressure that absorbed the increased supply from whale selling.
Ethereum Price Breaks Out Amid Surging Buy-Side Pressure The one-day chart for Ethereum price shows that it has moved above the resistance of a consolidation range at $2,530.
This move above $2,530 coincides with widening Bollinger bands that suggest that Ethereum’s volatility might increase in the near term.
If this uptrend continues, Ethereum price might move towards the psychological resistance at $2,800. If it closes above this resistance, ETH price might target $3,000 next.
ETH/USDT: 1D Chart (Source: TradingView) The RSI reading of 65 supports a bullish outlook. It suggests that the buying pressure is outpacing the selling pressure, and Ethereum price might continue with the uptrend.
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The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ethereum ($ETH), held above the psychological $2,600 mark this weekend, confirming its breakout from a prolonged, multi-month sideways trading range. The move was driven by a strong breakout candle closing near its daily highs following a tight consolidation, pushing the asset out of the $1,800–$2,000 corridor, where the coin had stagnated since the summer.
For a market weary of uncertainty, this move is a direct signal of a potential global trend reversal.
Ethereum clears $2,600, confirming a breakout from its multi-month consolidation base, Source: Aksel Kibar / TechChartsThe current price action confirms with pinpoint accuracy the calculations of certified technical analyst Aksel Kibar (CMT, TechCharts). Back in mid-August, at the height of the market lull, the expert predicted this scenario, setting an intermediate target at $2,163.
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September's breakout validated his forecast, but Kibar urges caution and warns that it is too early to celebrate.
What could go wrong (actually, everything)According to the analyst, the "ideal scenario" for Ethereum is not about immediately setting new highs, but rather about buyers' ability to hold their newly gained ground. The breakout impulse was strong, but the market now desperately needs a "domino effect."
To complete the formation of its multi-month base, Ethereum needs more consistent momentum and consecutive long bullish candles. Any hesitation at the current highs risks sending the price back into the sluggish trading range.
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The asset is now undergoing a classic stress test as the market enters a crucial follow-through phase to test buyer commitment. The answer to whether the "ideal scenario" has been fully activated depends on one factor: if ETH manages to hold firmly above $2,550 without deep pullbacks, this level will become a solid foothold for further growth while testing the sustainability of this new higher range.
Otherwise, the current surge toward $2,630 will remain nothing more than a temporary spike within a prolonged sideways market.
Ethereum is once again approaching the critical resistance zone between $2,500 and $2,550, a price band that has repeatedly acted as a ceiling in recent months. After recovering from a recent wave of selling, ETH is testing this level, which holds significance not just as a round number but as a potential trigger for further price movement.
ETF inflows renew institutional interestFresh momentum in institutional demand has added to Ethereum’s current rally. U.S. spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs) registered $66.4 million in net inflows on September 18, according to data from Farside Investors. This influx reverses a sequence of three sessions in which funds experienced persistent net withdrawals.
During the three days leading up to this inflow, Ethereum ETFs recorded significant outflows, with approximately $142 million, $224 million, and $39 million withdrawn between September 15 and September 17. The total outflow exceeded $400 million before the trend shifted to net positive.
Institutional flows into Ethereum ETFs have swung sharply, as inflows returned after three days of heavy withdrawals totaling more than $400 million.
This renewed ETF demand does not offset the entirety of recent withdrawals, but it does alleviate some of the immediate downward pressure on ETH, just as the token retests its established resistance range.
Price levels and breakout implicationsTechnical analysts often monitor the $2,550 level as a key short-term threshold for Ethereum. Sustained price action above this region could alter ETH’s immediate market structure and give bulls a path toward higher targets. The next significant objectives are set at $2,700 and $2,800, with $3,000 presenting a notable psychological milestone.
A failed breakout above $2,550, particularly if quickly reversed, would keep Ethereum confined within its existing range. By contrast, holding above $2,550 could signal that buyers are regaining control, potentially leading to further advances.
DateETF Net FlowsETH Price Key LevelsSept. 15-17– $405 million approx.$2,500–$2,550 (resistance)Sept. 18+ $66.4 million$2,700 / $2,800 (targets)Staking and market impactThere is also a longer-term supply dynamic impacting Ethereum. Currently, about 35% of ETH’s total supply is staked, which restricts the amount available for trading on the open market. This trend may support upward price momentum when combined with periods of renewed institutional interest.
Mini dictionary: Staking, the process by which users lock up their cryptocurrency in a blockchain network to help validate transactions and secure the protocol, which in return often grants rewards and reduces actively circulating supply.
If Ethereum confirms a breakout above current resistance, observers are expected to watch how ETF inflows and reduced liquid supply impact the move toward higher valuations. However, analysts caution that ETH would require increased follow-through buying to break past the $3,000 threshold meaningfully.
A permanent move above $2,550 could shift momentum, giving buyers more control and drawing attention to the next price targets at $2,700, $2,800, and the key $3,000 level.
