Why should the key factors of Ethereum be given attention rather than speculation in 2026

By 2025, Ethereum has proven that trust among developers and investors focused on long-term value is essential. While the ETH price ended the year with a 10.97% loss, the network continued to grow in operations, achieving record transaction volumes and expanding DeFi dominance to over 50%. This clearly demonstrates: in crypto, key factors are more important than daily price fluctuations.

Ethereum 2025: Network Success, Revenue Model Challenges

Last year, Ethereum reached significant milestones. RWA (Real World Assets) increased by 212%, while transaction volume hit new records. However, there’s another side to the story: L2 network revenue decreased by 53%, leaving nearly $100 million in lost revenue due to falling gas fees.

This is a natural result of network expansion. As capacity grows and transaction costs decrease, the network becomes more accessible, but immediate revenue declines. Exchange reserves sent a signal: ETH reserves on exchanges fell by 20% to 16.6 million, indicating that more investors are holding and not planning to sell, even at prices below their expectations.

Vitalik’s Decentralization Vision: A Long-Term Play for 2026

Vitalik Buterin has a clear message for 2026: decentralization is not just about technical specs but about building a sustainable ecosystem. This focus has elicited mixed reactions. Short-term traders have suffered because prices did not rise in tandem with fundamentals. But long-term believers see opportunity: lower fees + higher network capacity = more real applications.

Proof lies in recent moves toward institutional adoption. JPMorgan has tokenized assets on Ethereum, showing that business use cases are truly growing. If adoption rates increase, the lost revenue from L2 can be regained as more dApps and protocols use the network for lower operational costs.

2026: The Year of Key Factors vs. Price

The crypto market is entering a critical phase. Some say lower costs and higher throughput will lead to explosive growth. Others worry that the sustainability of network economics is questionable if gas fees remain low.

But data speaks: Ethereum has invested in long-term infrastructure, and investors are beginning to accumulate rather than sell. This is important because exchange outflows have historically indicated confidence in future price appreciation.

In 2026, Ethereum will test whether Vitalik’s strategy bears fruit. Deeper decentralization, more real-world use cases, and sustainable economics should align. If this happens, prices will naturally follow—but key factors should guide investor decisions, not the other way around.

The Main Takeaway: 2025 showed how network growth does not immediately follow price. But what matters is that investors are starting to pivot toward long-term value creation. In 2026, if execution is good, prices will reflect the network’s fundamental strength. Buyers now are preparing for that.