Ethereum use is reportedly undergoing a major uptick in 2021, with its quarterly settlement value to have a significant growth of 1,280% year-over-year.

Specifically, per insights from Messari, Ethereum has reportedly finalized the settlement of $926 trillion equivalent in transactions, this quarter as of writing time – a 700% surge compared to the same processed amount of last year’s first quarter. 

The network is at the moment underway to settle $1.6 trillion in transactions for the first quarter of 2021. Throughout the past 12 months, Ethereum has already completed settling for $2.1 trillion in transactions.

Should Messari’s $1.6 trillion forecast be precise, Ethereum’s quarterly settlement value will have experienced a steep climb of 1,280% in value, compared to the figures of 2020, and more than 5,000% compared with the first quarter of 2019. 

Messari researcher Ryan Watkins reportedly remarked that the data serves as a proof against ideas claiming Ethereum is witnessing an exodus of users amid its high gas fees. 

“Incredible scale for a technology that critics claimed couldn’t scale.”

Ethereum’s recent increase in settlement value can reportedly be linked to the booming in growth across the DeFi and nonfungible token sphere, a majority of which is based upon Ethereum.

The massive demand on the network has reportedly been the driving force leading to gas prices hitting its record-breaking high, with numerous retail traders increasingly getting priced out of using the Ethereum mainnet for smaller transactions.