Ethereum (ETH) Trading Strong Above $3200 Level With Miner Balances At 3-Year High

The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency Ethereum (ETH) continues to trade strong above $3200 levels. Despite the broader market under pressure at press time, Ethereum (ETH) is up 2.6%.

Ethereum (ETH) manages to hold up its levels with some positive on-chain activity. On-chain data provider Santiment reports that the Ethereum (ETH) miner balances have literally tripled over the last month. The data provider notes:

Ethereum miner balances have absolutely skyrocketed in August, essentially tripling from 81,512 $ETH to 243,000 $ETH today (+198%). The historic reversal in miner coins held has reversed from an #AllTimeLow in late July to a virtual 3-year high today.

The On-chain Activity Divergence

The Ethereum (ETH) price surge and rising miner balances show a positive development. However, the on-chain activity on the Ethereum blockchain shows sharp divergence.

For e.g, the daily active address on the Ethereum blockchain currently stands at 450k addresses per day. As per Glassnode, it is still 33% below the all-time high levels during May 2021. The data provider adds that the current activity on the Ethereum blockchain is “similar to the stable pre-bull accumulation range established in mid to late 2020”.

Similarly, the transaction counts on the Ethereum blockchain are on a decline. But despite the drop in active addresses and transaction counts, the amount of fees paid to the network remains significantly higher. This is due to the strong demand for NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain, reports Glassnode.

As of now, the total transaction fee on the Ethereum blockchain is at relatively high levels of $10K per day. It is still low when compared to the DeFi summer of 2020.

Furthermore, this spike in the Ethereum-based NFT activity comes at a cost. The address activity for blue-chip DeFi tokens COMP, UNI, AAVE, and YFI is on a decline. Glassnode notes that this paints a bleak picture representing a strong decline in investor attention.