A stark contrast has emerged in the active addresses of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron and Cardano, as the four blockchains continue to show different patterns when it comes to network usage.
The number of Bitcoins, for example, has declined significantly compared to previous major cycles, although its price remains well above historical levels. According to Alphractal founder Joao Wedson’s latest observation, this does not necessarily indicate lower usage.
Very different usage trends
Bitcoin investors now tend to hold longer and move coins less frequently, while ETFs, custodians, exchanges and the Lightning Network are used more often. The growing role of ETFs is particularly notable, as U.S.-based Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds have seen $3.31 billion in inflows in August so far. This change in how investors access and hold BTC could help explain why on-chain activity is not increasing at the same rate as the asset’s price.
Rather than indicating that the crypto asset is necessarily less used, the trend may reflect its growing role as a reserve asset, as more activity takes place through financial products and other structures rather than directly on the blockchain.
Ethereum network activity has started to accelerate again and active addresses are now close to a million, even with a significant part of the ecosystem running on layer 2 networks. Such a trend shows that this asset remains very relevant as a financial infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Tron was find having registered more than 4 million active addresses, making it the strongest case among the four networks by this metric. According to Wedson, much of its activity appears to be driven by payments and stablecoins, particularly USDT, rather than simple speculation around the price of TRX. The network has become a major infrastructure layer for the transfer of digital dollars.
Is Cardano in trouble?
The same cannot be said of Cardano, which has seen its activity fall sharply since 2021 and remains at very low levels compared to its own history. Wedson explained that the price can increase due to narratives, liquidity and speculation, while on-chain activity offers a clearer indication of whether people are actually using a blockchain.
Cardano’s low activity comes after years of criticism over the network’s slow development and difficulty in expanding the use of its technology. More recently, the network has come under enormous pressure, including a public warning from founder Charles Hoskinson about a “wave of failures” and the shutdown of major dApps.
On the price side, ADA briefly reached $0.254 this month, before returning to $0.196 at the time of writing. Despite recent price weakness, market commentators remain optimistic. One of these analysts, Sssebi, said he wait ADA is expected to return to its previous all-time high of $3.10 during the next bull market and believes it could surpass this level.
The article Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron and Cardano tell four very different stories via active addresses appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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