- Ethereum validators surpassed 500,000 as the network neared an upgrade.
- The total amount of ETH staked also exceeded 16 million.
According to a report published by web3 platform Alchemy on January 17, the number of smart contracts deployed on Ethereum is [ETH] The mainnet grew by 293% compared to 2021, matching the peak for that year.
read ethereum [ETH] Price Forecast 2023-24
Despite the FTX crash, we have seen an interesting increase in the number of smart contracts on the network. Alchemy claims that in Q4 2022 he had 4.6 million smart contracts in use, a 453% increase from the previous quarter.
However, the same report notes that the total amount of ETH assets traded on CEX fell by 29% between Q2 and Q3.
Validators and staked ETH hit all-time highs
In preparation for the Shanghai upgrade in March 2023, the number of Ethereum validators has exceeded 500,000, according to BeaconScan data. Coinciding with reaching the validator milestone, Ethereum core developers are planning to roll out the Shanghai upgrade.
Once this upgrade is launched, validators will be able to cash in their staked ETH and any profits earned from their staking efforts. You can withdraw up to 43,200 ETH per day from the total amount of ETH staked.
As of this writing, the total amount of ETH staked exceeds 16 million. Recent numbers represent a new record, according to Glassnode data. At the price of Ethereum at the time of writing, that total was worth over $25 billion.
Source: Glassnode
Development activity resumes uptrend
The growth of validators and smart contracts on Ethereum has led to a surge in platform development activity. At the time of this writing, there are over 87 developer contributions as measured by Santiment’s Dev Activity Index. The current situation reflects a discernible upward trend that began in early 2023.
Source: Santimento
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New support for ETH forms
At the time of this writing, ETH was trading around $1,584 on the 6-hour timeframe. Additionally, we see the asset trying to establish a new support line at the current price point.
Source: Trading View
Therefore, we could conclude that ETH is still trending upwards on the same timeframe. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) line shows that ETH is still above 70 and in overbought territory. The Directional Movement Index’s positive DI and signal line above 20 provide further support for ETH’s current bullish trend.
