Ethereum July 2026 Update: Stronger Markets, Weaker Economics

Onchain Metrics

Ethereum spot DEX volume declined to approximately $30 billion in July 2026, down ~17% from June and nearly 73% from the August 2025 peak of roughly $110 billion. Stablecoin swaps remained the largest category at ~$19 billion, followed by ETH–stablecoin pairs at $8 billion. Together, these categories accounted for nearly 88% of July activity, indicating that trading volume remained heavily concentrated in core liquidity pairs, while activity across foreign tokens, tokenized assets, and other categories continued to contract. Notably, Uniswap captured approximately 70% of this volume, while Curve and Fluid each accounted for roughly 10%. PropAMMs are the dominant venue on Solana yet still represent ~1% of volume on Ethereum. Volume in this segment eased from approximately $307 million in June to $288 million in July. Fermiswap remained dominant, generating roughly 84% of July activity, while Kipseli contributed approximately $45 million (up 67%).Ethereum monthly network REV fell 39% in July 2026 to $9.8 million, its lowest reading since April 2020 and 82.1% below July 2025. Ethereum’s share of tracked blockchain revenue also declined to 8.0% from 11.3% in June, its lowest level ever. The contraction was broad-based, led by a roughly 68% monthly decline in MEV-Boost tips. Against this backdrop, gas spent on stablecoin contract interactions declined 35% in July to $4.4 million, but remained comparatively resilient. Stablecoins consequently accounted for 44.4% of monthly REV, up from 41.6% in June, reinforcing their position as one of Ethereum’s most economically significant sources of blockspace demand.

Ethereum stablecoin activity moderated in July 2026, with transfer volume declining ~12% month over month to $819 billion and the number of transfers falling 4.4% to 51.7 million. Despite the monthly pullback, transfer count remained 125% above August 2025, while nominal volume was 35% lower. The shift points toward more frequent, smaller-value transfers across Ethereum. Ethereum application revenue edged up to $22 million in July 2026 from $21 million in June but remained well below 2025 levels. July revenue was ~58% lower than the $52 million recorded in August 2025 and ~62% below the $59 million October peak, highlighting sustained compression in application-level monetization.Ethereum’s tokenized RWA value declined ~8% during July 2026, falling from $18 billion to $17 billion by month-end. The pullback was led by Private Credit, which contracted ~14%, and Bonds and Treasuries, which declined ~10% to $8 billion. Precious Metals and Commodities remained relatively flat at ~$4 billion.