Soaring DeFi Usage Drives Ethereum Contract Calls to New Record

Ethereum usage is rocketing as the number of contract calls – a metric for network activity – hits an all-time high.

Coin Metrics reported Tuesday more than 3.1 million daily contract calls had gone through on July 25, an all-time high.
A contract call is where a user requests a specific function from a smart contract that, unlike a transaction, doesn't publish anything on the blockchain – sort of like a dry run.
Coin Metrics said record activity on Ethereum – now five years old – came primarily from the decentralized finance (DeFi), which has more than quadrupled in size to $4 billion total value locked, year-to-date.

Ethereum daily contract calls over the past year

Coin Metrics analysts excluded from the figures abnormal network activity from a distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attack in October 2016, which saw daily contract calls spike from around 30,000 daily to 40 million.
A spokesperson told CoinDesk the July 25 all-time high was much more "organic."
The last time contract calls breached the three million milestone was during the "Black Thursday" sell-off on March 12.
This surge in daily contract calls coincides with a resurging ether (ETH), the price of which has increased 26% in a week, from $236 to $320 by press time.

DISCLOSURE

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

The leader in news and information on cryptocurrency, digital assets and the future of money, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups. As part of their compensation, certain CoinDesk employees, including editorial employees, may receive exposure to DCG equity in the form of stock appreciation rights, which vest over a multi-year period. CoinDesk journalists are not allowed to purchase stock outright in DCG.

Paddy Baker

Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk’s longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.