The Ethereum Blockchain Milestone
The Ethereum blockchain, along with its secondary layer solutions such as Optimism, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Base, has set a remarkable new milestone by surpassing the daily transaction volumes of several prominent European digital payment processors. Recent statistics reveal that this network processed an astonishing 27 million transactions in just 24 hours, as highlighted by Leon Waidmann from the Onchain Foundation. This new achievement indicates a thriving ecosystem with activity levels that have outpaced popular remittance services, positioning Ethereum as a key player in the digital payments landscape.
Layer 2 Solutions Contribution
Among these transactions, the Layer 2 solutions alone accounted for an impressive 25 million transactions in a single day, contributing to the ecosystem’s aggregate total. The Ethereum mainnet itself, classified as Layer 1 (L1), contributed around 2 million transactions, which makes up 7.4% of this record-breaking volume. This rate translates to an average processing speed of about 313 transactions per second.
Comparative Analysis with Traditional Payment Systems
Waidmann noted on social media that these figures highlight Ethereum’s strength in comparison to established digital payment systems in the United Kingdom and the broader European market. For context, the UK’s Faster Payments system processes approximately 11 million transactions daily, while Germany’s Girocard averages around 22 million. Interestingly, Japan’s Zengin service processes nearly four times fewer transactions than the Ethereum network.
Global Transaction Landscape
Despite these impressive statistics, the Ethereum ecosystem still lags behind the largest card systems globally. Chinese company UnionPay processes an astronomical 1.5 billion transactions each day, while Visa manages 640 million. Nevertheless, Ethereum stands as the leading blockchain supporting the U.S. Dollar Tether (USDT) stablecoin, which is pivotal for the majority of cryptocurrency transactions worldwide. The latest Tether Transparency report indicates that Ethereum oversees a hefty share of $90.7 billion in USDT transactions, vastly outperforming its nearest rival, Tron, which manages about $78 billion.
Ethereum’s Price Surge
Ethereum has experienced a significant price surge in recent months, escalating from $2,205 to over $4,440, peaking at $4,953 on August 24, 2025. This resurgence comes amidst varied opinions and scrutiny from within the crypto community, reaffirming Ethereum’s position as the second-largest cryptocurrency across the globe.
