Ethereum has a high usage rate and a high fee structure, and the implementation of EIP-1559 has resolved some issues. In 2021 Ethereum Surpassed Visa concerning the sums traded on the network.

A detailed analysis of Ethereum in 2021 by Josh Stark points out that the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world has overtaken Visa in terms of value transacted. 

Last year alone, the Ethereum network handled the equivalent of $11.6 trillion in transactions.

In addition to this information, the article also provides data on the total fees paid on different blockchains, including Bitcoin. 

It also analyzes the arrival of second-layer solutions and the arrival of different players in the sector.

Finally, it is also possible to find detailed information about the ratio between emission and burning of ETH after the introduction of EIP-1559.

Ethereum surpassed Visa

The sums traded by Bitcoin and Ethereum are perhaps the most unexpected facts uncovered in this research.

While Visa transacted a total of 10.4 trillion dollars in 2021, Bitcoin moved US$ 4.6 trillion, passing PayPal. 

Ethereum managed to double the volume of BTC and surpass Visa after closing the year with a volume of transactions equivalent to 11.6 trillion dollars.

Although it seems that Bitcoin is losing this fight, it is worth remembering that most transactions on Ethereum involve tokens, fungible or not. That is, both have their merits here.

High Usage and High Fees on Ethereum Network

As most blockchains work as an auction system, where transactions with higher fees are accepted first, it is no surprise to find expensive fees when networks are overloaded.

With the explosion of DeFi, NFT, play-to-earn gaming sectors, scalability has been Ethereum’s weak point ever since. In other words, he could be a lot bigger if his rates were cheaper.

The chart below compares some payment solutions’ total fees paid in 2021.

While a 10-fold difference between ETH and BTC draws attention, Visa’s $24 billion is the focus. After all, this profit belongs to the company. In cryptocurrencies, this profit goes to the miners.

Second layer solutions

Because of the scalability mentioned above, the latter half of 2021 was defined by second-tier solutions on Ethereum. Escaping high fees is the main reason.

The article highlights that Ethereum validated around 1.2 million transactions per day and that the arrival of these second-tier solutions is managing to increase this number, which is currently at its limit.

The Growth in use cases of Cryptocurrency

Another important observation from Stark’s Ethereum 2021 retrospective is the expansion of cryptocurrency use cases, mainly linked to Ethereum itself.

While until the year 2020, the vast majority of people who lived off cryptocurrencies were investors, developers, and companies. The expansion of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) attracted other professionals to this universe.

For example, artists selling their artwork on NFT are often used by athletes such as Stephen Curry, which also has strong ties to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Currently, he is a partner in one of the largest exchanges in the world and collects NFTs.

Stark compares revenue between Ethereum and other services used by artists such as Spotify and YouTube Music in the chart above. Pointing out the potential of blockchain, still little explored.

The Ethereum burns with the EIP-1559.

Finally, the report highlights Ethereum’s economic shift in August through EIP-1559. With it, part of the transaction fees began to be burned, reducing the total supply of ETH.

With a reward of 2 ETH per block, generated every ~15 seconds, Ethereum would have inflation of around 11,520 ethers per day. In November, the network burned its one-millionth ETH.

Despite this, the amount was lowered once the burn was introduced.

Highlighting the end of October, when Ethereum became a deflationary asset for eight consecutive days, that is, the number of ethers decreased in this period.

Ultimately, this shows that ignoring cryptocurrencies is a mistake. 

Like the director of Microsoft, the most visionary already admit that Ethereum will be the new application store.

On the other hand, Bitcoin gains more space as a store of value with each passing day, and today both are dominant in their areas.

Ethereum 2.0 continues to strengthen its foundations before the leading Ethereum network merges with this new version. In the coming days, it could reach the milestone of 400,000 validators which will verify transactions and ensure the correct functioning of the blockchain. 

396,465 validators deposited their Ethereum (ETH) into the Beacon Chain Smart Contract, the new Network’s original “Beacon Chain.” It means that 3,535 validators are left to reach the 400,000. With the pace of growth over the last week, the new validator milestone can be achieved in 2 to 3 days. 

Ethereum 2.0 reaches this substantial number 18 months after creating the contract to deposit ETH in staking, with which a user acquires the right to be a validator on the Network. 100,000 validators were added in three months, considering that the Network had reached 300,000 in February 2022.

The statistics of the current status of the Network can be consulted on the beaconcha.in, further indicating that deposited ETHs amount to 12,686,773. 

It should be noted that all deposits should remain at least until after the merger, as they are locked in the smart contract until that event happens. 

In addition, it is essential to note that the final number includes both those deposited by independent nodes and those in staking pools, which offer the possibility for many people to combine their resources to collaborate with the maintenance of Ethereum 2.0 and get rewards for it.

After the merger with the new blockchain, projected by developers for the second half of the year, Ethereum will switch to Proof of Stake (PoS) instead of Proof of Work (PoW).  

It means that the new transactions and new coins will not be mined with graphic board rigs as they have been until now, but with designated validators who will put their funds in collateral for transactions that they approve. If they do not act honestly, validators are penalized and lose their funds.  

Why do you have to deposit ETH to become a validator?

Ethereum Foundation, which brings together the leading developers of the Network, indicates in its blog that the role of the validator is essential. The validators of the new blocks on the Network are incentivized to act honestly to avoid losing their funds in staking. 

The developers of the Network have arbitrarily designated 32 ETH.

With this amount, the ethereum 2 price is equivalent to USD 62,859, the formula determines the number of allowed validating nodes which preserves the efficiency of the Network by reducing the amount of information transmitted between them.

Test networks move towards merging.

While the number of validators grows, Ethereum 2.0 developers “do their homework” and continue to test all stages and circumstances of the merger on test networks.  

On the Ropsten testnet, Ethereum 2.0 has already been released. This same testnet has previously come to an unintentional halt due to an exorbitant hashrate and the lack of a Beacon Chain.

Despite all this progress, the developers decided to postpone the difficulty pump on the Ethereum mainnet for at least two months. 

This stage of the process will be the one that will put a definitive end to mining, a scenario that is getting closer and closer and that has the miners of this Network looking for alternatives between selling their equipment or migrating to another cryptocurrency.