Ethereum Supply Surpasses 120 Million Coins

The issuance of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has reached 120.28 million ETH, according to Ultrasound.money. This was driven by the increase in coins locked in staking and restaking protocols.

In the past week, the parameter increased by 18,086.4 ETH, of which 2,229.6 ETH were removed from circulation through the EIP-1559 burn mechanism. The net issuance amounted to 15,856.9 ETH, with annual inflation rising to 0.69%.

The popularity of liquid staking and restaking platforms, due to the locking of coins in protocols, may indirectly influence the supply increase. According to DeFi Llama, the TVL of sector leaders Lido Finance and EigenLayer increased by 6.4% and 2.7% respectively over the past week.

New Features in EigenLayer

On August 14, it was announced that EigenLayer is integrating new functionality allowing active validation services (AVS) to add ERC-20 tokens that can be withdrawn without permission, expanding DeFi capabilities.

Coming Soon: Permissionless Token Support

What

Eigen Labs is proud to introduce Permissionless Token Support, an upcoming update, to the EigenLayer protocol. This feature will enable any ERC-20 token to be added as a restakable asset, significantly broadening the scope of… pic.twitter.com/zvN30f9Ipc

— EigenLayer (@eigenlayer) August 14, 2024

For these purposes, users can utilize AVS-native tokens and stablecoins.

“AVS will have the ability to fully customize their crypto-economic security profiles. They will be able to distribute work and rewards across a wide range of tokens supported by EigenLayer operators,” the statement reads.

The solution is currently available for private testing.

It is expected to be activated on the Ethereum mainnet next week. User interface support for restakers is anticipated in Q3.

The EigenDA data availability layer will be the first AVS to test the option before its official launch.

Ethereum’s Prospects

Khelp Financial co-founder and CEO Boomer Saraga, in an interview with Schwab Network, highlighted a discrepancy between the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency and its on-chain data. The expert predicted the asset’s rise to ATH.

#Ethereum ETFs have been live for 2 weeks ?

Khelp Financial CEO Boomer Saraga speaks to the flows and how they compare to the trends from #bitcoin funds. @NPetallides $ETH

?️ “From a fundamental standpoint, Ethereum is reaching all-time highs and I expect the price to follow.”

— Schwab Network (@SchwabNetwork) August 14, 2024

“From a fundamental standpoint, Ethereum is reaching all-time highs, and I expect the price to follow. We use key performance indicators, operational and on-chain metrics. […] There are over 2 million users on the mainnet and L2. […] Yet the price lags behind,” Saraga explained.

On August 13, the number of transactions processed by Ethereum’s layer-two solutions in a single day reached a record 12.52 million. The Coinbase-backed blockchain Base was a significant driver, nearing 4 million daily transactions by the end of July.

In May, experts noted that Ethereum became inflationary again following the activation of the Dencun update in March, which significantly reduced fees in L2 networks.