Key Highlights:
- Ethereum hit an all-time high of 8.7 million contracts in Q4 2025.
- Growth is driven by Layer 2s, stablecoins, RWA, and smart wallets.
- Rising usage points toward strong long-term confidence.
Ethereum has hit a new milestone as it has created 8.7 million smart contracts in Q4 2025 as reported by well-known crypto analyst, Joseph Young on X today, December 30, 2025. This number is the highest reported number and according to the analyst, it indicates real-growth rather than a short-term excitement.
The crypto analyst also highlighted that this kind of increase, that is steady, is hard to fake and indicates that more and more developers are genuinely using the network.
According to Young, the numbers show that there has been a proper rise over time. There were 6.2 million contracts in Q2, 7.8 million in Q3 and then 8.7 million in Q4.
This steady climb is in line with Ethereum’s $120 billion locked in DeFi, as tracked by DeFiLlama, which points toward a strong and active ecosystem.
ethereum just hit an ALL-TIME HIGH of 8.7M contracts deployed in a single quarter.
sustained multi-quarter contract deployment growth is hard to inflate. this is organic growth.
it’s driven by:
> rollup/L2 expansion
> RWA issuance
> stablecoins
> wallets & intentsETH. pic.twitter.com/XJPbVCiovs
— Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) December 30, 2025
Sustained Growth Defies Skepticism
As mentioned above, the strong growth over several quarters pushes back against doubts about Ethereum after its Merge upgrade, when people often complained about high fees and scaling problems.
However, in Q4 alone, the number of new contracts was higher than 2024, rising up to 8.7 million. This increase is being driven by real use and not short-term hype.
As per the data from the post, Joseph Young shows that daily contract creation has increased steadily through 2025. It went from about 70,000 contracts per day early in the year to more than 100,000 by the end of Q4.
Unlike temporary trends such as memecoin crazy crazes, this increase highlights Ethereum’s continued importance as the main platform for building decentralized apps and Web3 systems.
Key Drivers Fueling the Surge
Layer 2 Rollup Growth
Layer 2 networks like Optimism, Arbitrum, and Base now handle most of Ethereum’s activity. This makes transactions faster and cheaper. In Q4, these networks were responsible for about 80% of all activity and 5.2 million smart contracts, which is just 60% of the total.
Base alone has added 1.8 million contracts, helped by Coinbase’s growing ecosystem, popular gaming apps, and DeFi projects moving away from expensive main Ethereum transactions.
Rise of Real-World Asset Tokenization
Real-world assets like government bonds, property and commodities are increasingly being bought onto Ethereum. Platforms such as BlackRock’s BUIDL fund and ONDO Finance created over 1.2 million contracts for these assets.
The total value locked in tokenized real-world assets crossed $10 billion, supported by US regulatory approvals. This allows people to own small portions of real assets and earn easy returns using blockchain technology.
Expansion of Stablecoins
Stablecoins like USDC and USDT powered more than 1 million new contracts, playing a key role in payments, money transfers, and DeFi apps. Tether’s Ethereum-based supply grew to $120 billion, while daily transaction volumes across Ethereum and Layer 2 networks, making them one of Ethereum’s most useful features for everyday use.
Wallets and Intents Infrastructure
Account abstraction using ERC-4337 led to more than 800,000 smart wallets, making features like gas-free transactions and easy wallet recovery possible.
At the same time, intent-based protocols such as Anoma and Across added 500,000 contracts, letting users simply state what they want to do, like swapping tokens at the best price. Popular wallets like MetaMask and Rainbow adopted these tools, helping millions of non-technical users get started easily.
Implications for ETH and Broader Market
This surge in activity is a positive sign for ETH price and long-term use. At press time, the price of ETH stands at $2,981.20 with an uptick of 1.68% in the last 24-hours as per CoinMarketCap.
Risks such as centralization in Layer-2 systems and issues with real-world asset data. Even so, Ethereum’s upgrade plans support large-scale and enterprise use, showing the network is maturing and preparing for the next market upswing.
Also Read: Ethereum Price Stalls Near $3K as a Massive Breakout Looms
