Ethereum Emerges As A Dollar Settlement Powerhouse, Outpacing Traditional Payment Networks – Details

bitcoinistPublicado em 2025-12-10Última atualização em 2025-12-10

Resumo

Ethereum is emerging as a major global settlement layer for dollar-denominated transactions, surpassing traditional payment networks like Visa and Mastercard in raw transaction volume. According to a report highlighted by Leon Waidmann, the Ethereum network recorded nearly $6 trillion in stablecoin transfer volume in Q4 alone, driven significantly by growing demand for digital dollar settlements. This surge underscores Ethereum's expanding role in finance beyond cryptocurrency, positioning it as a foundational infrastructure for value transfer. The network is also scaling effectively, with increasing throughput and declining transaction costs, enabling more activity at lower fees. Despite a slight dip in ETH's price and trading volume, its utility as a settlement powerhouse continues to strengthen.

In the broadening blockchain sector, the Ethereum network remains a dominant force, heavily utilized and constantly selected by crypto players to carry out their on-chain operations. A recent report shows that Ethereum is transitioning from blockchain to the big league, as the network overtakes dollar-denominated transactions across digital payments.

A Leader In Dollar Transactions

With a surge in stablecoin transfer volume, Ethereum is no longer only a rival in the cryptocurrency space. In a post on the X platform, Leon Waidmann, a market expert and head of research at On-Chain Foundation, reported that ETH is currently surpassing some of the largest traditional payment networks in the world in terms of raw transaction volume.

Data from the post reveals a surge in dollar-denominated transactions on Ethereum, which has triggered new conversations about its increasing prominence as a layer of global settlement. This spike shows that the blockchain’s changing role in finance is becoming more difficult for institutions to ignore as volumes surge past expectations.

With one month remaining in the year, the amount of ETH stablecoin transfers in Q4 has already exceeded that of Q3. According to the data, the leading network has recorded nearly $6 trillion in stablecoin volume in the fourth quarter of this year alone, reflecting its growing demand for payment settlement.

When it comes to dollar-dominated transaction volume, the blockchain has already outpaced both Visa and Mastercard transaction volumes in the current quarter. Given the surge in stablecoin transfer volume, Ethereum is gradually becoming the major settlement layer for digital dollars.

Waidmann stated that the size makes early Decentralized Finance (DeFi) activity appear insignificant by comparison. In the meantime, the conventional financial infrastructure is being surpassed by the on-chain economy.

Ethereum Network’s Throughput Exhibiting Robust Growth

As demand for Ethereum as the main settlement layer grows, the network is also quietly entering a new phase of its evolution. This change is one that is characterized by accessibility, efficiency, and quickness rather than traffic jams and soaring costs.

Waidmann highlighted that ETH scaling is rising, alongside growing throughput and declining transaction costs. With transaction prices continuously declining and network throughput surging, the blockchain is demonstrating concrete evidence that its long-promised scaling vision is coming to pass.

As a result, Ethereum will be able to handle an increasing amount of activity over time. However, the network’s usage cost continues to decline, drawing close to zero. Currently, Layer 2s take care of the heavy execution while the mainnet settles the valuable transactions. Should these two lines continue to move in opposite directions, ETH is scaling just as planned.

At the time of writing, the price of ETH was still holding above the $3,100 level despite recording a more than 1% decline in the last 24 hours. Its trading volume has also witnessed a bearish action, dropping by over 4% in the past day.

ETH trading at $3,123 on the 1D chart | Source: ETHUSDT on Tradingview.com

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