The Ethereum ($ETH) network has been adding nearly 130,000 new unique addresses per day, at a time in which the on-chain activity for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization keeps on growing.
According to data from Ethereum blockchain explorer Etherscan, first spotted by Finbold, the Ethereum network’s unique addresses rose from 217.6 million at the beginning of the year to roughly 221.3 million at the time of writing, representing a gain of around 130,000 per day.
On a public blockchain like that of Ethereum, an address is a unique identifier that allows users to send and receive transactions but does not represent a single user, as a user can create multiple addresses for free. Some privacy advocates advise users to create one address for each transaction.
The network completed an important upgrade called the Merge in September 2022, in which the Beacon Chain merged with the Ethereum mainnet for it to transition from a Proof-of-Work consensus algorithm into a Proof-of-Stake one. It’s now eyeing another important upgrade, called Shanghai.
The Shanghai upgrade is set to allow network validators with Ethereum staked on-chain to withdraw their funds with the interest they’ve collected over time. Staked ETH has been locked on the network ever since staking deposits were first made available with the Beacon Chain.
As CryptoGlobe reported, Ethereum’s core developers have set March 2023 as the provisional date for Shanghai, meaning Ethereum stakers could soon be able to withdraw their staked assets on the network.
Notably, with Shanghai approaching and Ethereum’s price rising, on-chain data has shown that shark addresses have been “aggressively” accumulating the cryptocurrency.
Data from on-chain analytics firm Santiment shows that wallets with between 100 and 10,000 $ETH, equivalent to $162,000 to $16.2 million at the time of writing, have been accumulating the cryptocurrency since early November, to the point around 3,000 new shark addresses were created.
Per the firm, a total of 48,556 shark addresses now exist, marking the highest level recorded since February 2021. Shark addresses, it’s worth noting, are associated with large holders, with the largest cohort being known as the whale cohort.
As reported, a recent survey by CoinShares has revealed that 60% of the 43 fund managers surveyed, who have a combined $390 billion in assets under management, believe that Ethereum has the most promising growth prospects in 2023.
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