Ether clears $1,900 as staking rises, but network activity lags

Ether pushed above $1,900 on Tuesday and tested $1,950 for the first time in seven weeks, according to Cointelegraph. For everyday crypto investors, the move is notable because ETH is rising with broader risk assets, while Ethereum’s own usage data is still sending a more cautious signal.

The rally triggered $62 million in liquidations among leveraged bearish positions, Cointelegraph reported. A liquidation happens when an exchange force-closes a trader’s borrowed position because losses have eaten through the collateral supporting that trade.

ETH has climbed 29% from its June 26 low near $1,500, according to Cointelegraph. The move came as Bitcoin traded above $66,500 and the wider crypto market gained alongside a firmer tone in U.S. stocks.

Crypto is taking cues from stocks

Cointelegraph linked the latest ETH move to a broader “risk-on” mood, meaning investors were more willing to hold assets that can swing sharply in price. U.S. stocks rose Tuesday after 3M reported results in the morning, helping ease concerns about valuations following the artificial intelligence stock rally.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is expected to report quarterly earnings Wednesday after U.S. markets close. Cointelegraph said investors are watching for 64% growth in cloud services revenue as Alphabet spends heavily on AI. Strong corporate earnings could support confidence in risk assets and help the total crypto market capitalization move above $2 trillion, according to the report.

Ethereum usage has not matched the price move

Ethereum’s onchain activity remains weak despite the price recovery, according to Cointelegraph. “Onchain” refers to activity recorded directly on a blockchain, such as app transactions, decentralized exchange trades and fees paid to use the network.

Data from DefiLlama cited by Cointelegraph showed weekly revenue for Ethereum decentralized applications fell to $9.8 million, the lowest level since September 2024. Decentralized applications, or DApps, are blockchain-based services that run through smart contracts instead of a traditional company-operated database.

Sky, formerly MakerDAO, generated $3.2 million in weekly revenue, while Chainlink brought in $1.2 million over the same period, according to DefiLlama data cited by Cointelegraph. Decentralized exchange, or DEX, volume on Ethereum fell to $7.2 billion per week. A DEX lets users trade tokens directly through blockchain contracts rather than through a centralized exchange.

Cointelegraph said demand for Ethereum block space has not returned to levels seen six months ago, partly because traders have shown less interest in memecoins and utility tokens. The report noted that Ethena, Mantle and Arbitrum were among major Ethereum-linked projects down 50% or more year to date.

Staking is the stronger part of the bull case

Derivatives data also showed caution. According to Laevitas data cited by Cointelegraph, ETH perpetual futures funding rates have struggled to stay in the neutral annualized range of 6% to 12% over the past month. Perpetual futures are crypto contracts with no expiry date, and the funding rate is the recurring payment between long and short traders that helps keep the contract price close to the spot price.

Sentiment has improved from late June, when negative funding rates showed heavier bearish demand, Cointelegraph reported. One support for the market is staking, the process of locking ETH to help validate Ethereum transactions in exchange for rewards.

Staking Rewards data cited by Cointelegraph showed a record 34% of all ETH supply is now staked, up from 33% one month earlier. Cointelegraph said that can reduce selling pressure because more coins are held by longer-term participants. The report also said Tom Lee’s Bitmine Immersion added 156,719 ETH over the past month and now controls 4.8% of available supply.

ETH remains 61% below its August 2025 all-time high, according to Cointelegraph. The next test for bulls is whether broader market confidence, including Alphabet’s earnings outlook, can offset soft Ethereum network activity and keep the move toward $2,100 in play.

This story draws on original reporting from Cointelegraph.