More than 15 million new Ethereum “hodlers” have joined the network in the past year anticipating a massive breakout

• Ethereum long-term holders swell as 15 million new addresses in anticipation of ETH 2.0 staking.

• Onchain data also reveals 49 million addresses with a balance on the network.

Data from IntoTheBlock shows that the number of addresses holding Ethereum for over a year has gone up 67% within the last 12 months. This could be due to growing excitement around ETH 2.0, as stakers expect staking rewards.

Anticipation grows among Ethereum holders eyeing staking rewards

There are now over 28 million addresses holding about 60 million ETH for more than a year. As the long term holding proposition continues to strengthen, it sets the pace for more holders and higher price of the smart contract token. After making more than 30% gain within the past week, the price of Ethereum now sits above $600 with a market cap that has risen just above $68 billion.

After a sluggish start, the smart contract finally accumulated enough funds and set off the next phase of Ethereum’s most ambitious upgrade. The deposit contract has accrued the requisite 524,388 ETH needed to activate the Ethereum 2.0 beacon chain, the rebooted network’s central nervous system. The protocol upgrade will integrate features like proof-of-stake and sharding, which will boost the throughput while maintaining the network’s high security. 

Ethereum moves away from proof-of-work and enters a new proof-of-stake era requiring market participants to hold 32 ETH to collect staking rewards. This factor may trigger a spike in demand for the smart contracts token, subsequently impacting its price action. The growing number of ETH addresses that are long term holders indicates that potential stakers welcome this development as they expect the following incentives.

Onchain metrics buttress the growing number of addresses with balance

The total number of addresses with a balance is obtained by subtracting the Total zero balance from the total number of addresses. Over 49 million holders on the network are currently with funds. This is a significant addition from 34 million at the beginning of the year, revealing a steady increase in the market’s portion willing to stack up the Ethereum. 

Total addresses with balance from IntoTheBlock

At the moment, there seems to be very little that can cast any bearish cloud in the long term prospects of Ethereum.