- Ethereum’s exchange supply hits a decade-low, reducing sell pressure on ETH.
- ETH price drops 47% since December 2024, underperforming peers.
- Fee revenue and total value locked decline, with Ethereum ETFs as a potential boost.
The Ethereum supply on centralized exchanges stands as low as it has in nearly a decade at 8.97 million ETH, its lowest since November 2015. That precipitous decline in supply has been a result of increasing use of decentralized finance (DeFi) and staking activity, where investors lock their funds up rather than leaving them on exchanges.
As a result, selling pressure decreased, demonstrating long-term accumulation patterns. For the past seven weeks, exchange-based Ethereum supply declined by 16.4%, demonstrating the market dynamics shift now that only 7.4% of total ETH supply remains in saleable form.
Decline in Ethereum Supply on Exchanges
Despite there being such a supply constraints, the price of Ethereum has yet to see the anticipated surge. Until the 21st of March, ETH has reduced by 47% from December 2024’s high price of $4,105 to $1,990 today. This is among the worst recent performances of one of the largest cryptos.
Standard Chartered analysts have trimmed their fourth quarter 2025 price target on ETH to $4,000 from $10,000 due to increased rivalry from Ethereum layer-2 options. Such layer-2 networks are cheaper as well, which is more attractive to users, siphoning off activity from the mainnet on Ethereum.
The fall in the price and volume of trading of Ethereum has also helped to significantly contribute to its fee revenues. The fee revenue of Ethereum has fallen from $218 million in December 2024 to a paltry $46 million up to February 2025. Additionally, its TVL has fallen from $76 billion in December to $46 billion, indicating a fall in the general usage and adoption.
But Ethereum might receive a lifeline someday with staking exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The Chicago Board Options Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange both submitted proposals to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to allow Ethereum staking in ETFs, potentially attracting institutional capital.
In short, though Ethereum is trying to cope with dwindling exchange supply and dipping price, its future lies in how it might attract more institutional investment and change its fee revenue model. The market is waiting, and it is only a matter of time to see whether Ethereum can come out of this challenging phase.
