Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Avalanche Show Strong Usage Growth Despite Falling Revenue
December’s onchain data reveals a notable shift across major blockchain networks: transaction activity increased while fee revenue declined. This divergence suggests that recent scaling upgrades and infrastructure improvements are easing congestion and expanding capacity, allowing networks to process more activity without driving up user costs.
Major Networks Process More Transactions With Less Fee Pressure
Several leading blockchains recorded higher transaction counts over the past month. Ethereum transactions rose 16% even as fee revenue dropped 57%, highlighting how protocol-level changes are reshaping network economics. Polygon saw an even sharper contrast, with transactions jumping 82% while fees fell 47%. Similar trends appeared on Arbitrum and Avalanche, reinforcing the broader pattern.
These figures point to a structural improvement in how blockchains handle demand rather than a slowdown in usage.
Bitcoin, Tron, and The Open Network posted more modest transaction growth, yet each still experienced declining fee revenue, signaling reduced competition for block space across diverse network designs.
Ethereum’s increase in block gas limits late in November allowed more transactions per block, easing congestion. This effect was amplified in December through further upgrades that expanded data availability for rollups, lowering aggregate costs while supporting higher activity.
Polygon followed a comparable path after deploying upgrades aimed at faster consensus, higher throughput, and more predictable gas costs, particularly for stablecoin transfers and tokenized real-world assets.
Not all networks shared the same momentum. Some chains saw both transactions and fees decline, reflecting quieter usage conditions. Even the most active networks experienced moderation as overall market capitalization remained range-bound through December.
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