On-chain data shows that Ethereum has significantly surpassed Bitcoin in terms of adoption over the past three months, a sign that could be positive for ETH.
The number of Ethereum holders has increased by 3.3% over the past three months
According to data from on-chain analytics firm Santiment, Ethereum has continued to outpace Bitcoin in its growth in total holders. Total holders here refers to a metric that, as the name suggests, keeps track of the total number of addresses on a given network that have a non-zero balance.
When the value of this metric increases, it means that new addresses with balance appear on the blockchain. Such a trend can occur when new investors join the market and old ones who had sold earlier reinvest.
The indicator also sees an increase as existing investors split their holdings into multiple portfolios, perhaps for privacy reasons. Typically, all three of these factors come into play whenever the indicator increases, so it can be assumed that some net adoption is taking place, which could be bullish for the asset.
On the other hand, the indicator’s decline implies that some holders have decided to empty their wallets, potentially moving away from the cryptocurrency altogether at least in the short term.
Now here is a chart that shows the trend in the total number of holders of the three main currencies in the sector, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT), over the past few years:
Looks like the value of the metric has been on the way up for ETH | Source: Santiment on X
As the chart above shows, the total number of Ethereum holders has been on an upward trend over the past few years, and this momentum has continued over the past three months as 4 million additional holders have appeared on the network.
Unlike ETH’s growth, BTC’s total holder count has been on a near-sideways trajectory since 2021. Over the past three months, the number one cryptocurrency has actually seen a downright decline in its user base, with 50,000 addresses emptying.
Following the latest surge, Ethereum now has nearly 127 million holders, while the metric stands at just 54 million for Bitcoin, meaning the latter doesn’t even have half the holders of the former.
The number one stablecoin, USDT, currently has 6 million addresses holding a balance, which is an increase of about 230,000 from three months ago.
The trend in the total number of BTC holders would imply that the coin may have hit a roadblock in its adoption, while ETH has continued to attract new users, likely due to the rich ecosystem it hosts.
ETH Price
At the time of writing, Ethereum is hovering around $2,400, down more than 4% in the past 24 hours.
The price of the coin appears to have seen a sharp drawdown | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView
Featured image by Dall-E, Santiment.net, chart by TradingView.com
