TL;DR
- Ethereum is experiencing accelerated growth in new wallets during December, with daily peaks of up to 197,380 new addresses.
- Despite this expansion, ETH’s price remains near $2,990, though it has increased by 5.68% in the last 24 hours.
- Rising on-chain activity and recovering holder sentiment indicate potential future demand and could set the stage for upward price movement in the medium term.
Ethereum is showing one of its strongest network expansions of the year, with new wallet creation surging sharply in December. Notable daily spikes include 197,380 new wallets on December 2 and 195,460 on December 15, surpassing growth levels seen during Ethereum’s late-summer rally.
📈 Ethereum is seeing a rising level of new wallets created on its network. The #2 market cap is seeing an average of 163K new addresses per day, compared to 124K in July.
🔗 Track the network growth for $ETH here, or toggle between other assets. 👇https://t.co/ZTePj1yO2I pic.twitter.com/h0HBXD4zYm
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) December 19, 2025
This increase in wallet creation reflects expanding user adoption, growing interest from new participants, and rising medium-term demand potential for ETH. Sustained onboarding trends often precede price acceleration, showing that network fundamentals are strengthening even as market pricing lags. Additionally, a variety of decentralized finance protocols and NFT projects are actively attracting new users, further contributing to the expansion of Ethereum’s ecosystem and increasing engagement across multiple on-chain applications.
ETH Price Remains Range-Bound Despite Robust Fundamentals
Despite these on-chain improvements, ETH’s price continues to fluctuate within a $2,800–$3,300 range. Currently, ETH trades around $2,990, with a 24-hour increase of 5.68%. The market shows low volatility, weak short-term trend direction, and a consolidation pattern of lower highs and higher lows. This structure points to indecision rather than weakness, especially when combined with rising network activity. Holder sentiment, which was deeply negative in November, has shifted to neutral-positive territory by mid-December, reflecting fading fear, stabilizing conviction, and easing selling pressure among long-term investors.
Higher-Low Formation Suggests Potential Breakout
Ethereum has defended the $2,860–$2,900 zone multiple times. This, along with strengthening sentiment and ongoing wallet creation, suggests a higher-low structure may be forming, which often precedes trend reversals. If new wallet creation continues at current levels, growing demand could begin to outweigh supply, setting the stage for a breakout from the multi-week range.
Ethereum’s network growth in December is outpacing its market price, revealing latent demand that may support future upward movement. While ETH remains around $2,990 with recent modest gains of 5.68% in 24 hours, improving fundamentals and recovering holder sentiment indicate conditions are aligning for potential price appreciation if momentum persists. Overall, the combination of wallet growth, long-term holder stability, and active developer engagement continues to reinforce Ethereum’s position as the leading smart contract blockchain.
