Ethereum’s price has been trading sideways around $2,280–$2,320 for the past several days. The network itself, however, is doing something quite different. The total number of ETH holders just crossed 190 million — more than three times the number of Bitcoin holders — while the 100-day moving average for active addresses hit an all-time high of 587,000. When network usage and holder growth diverge this sharply from price, it’s worth asking which one is telling the truth about where things are heading.
190 Million Holders: What That Number Actually Means
On April 28, 2026, Santiment confirmed that the total number of Ethereum holders had reached 190 million. To put that in context: Bitcoin has approximately 60 million holders. Ethereum’s holder base is more than three times larger, and it has been growing steadily even through periods of price weakness. This is not a metric that spikes and retreats with market sentiment — it reflects the cumulative number of addresses that hold any amount of ETH, and it has been on a consistent upward trajectory since the network launched.
The significance of this milestone goes beyond the raw number. Holder count is a proxy for adoption — for how many people have decided that owning ETH is worth doing, regardless of what the price is doing on any given day. A holder base of 190 million means that Ethereum has embedded itself into the financial lives of a population roughly equivalent to the entire adult population of Brazil. That’s not a speculative asset with a narrow user base. That’s a network with genuine, broad-based adoption.
What makes the current moment particularly interesting is the timing. This holder milestone is being reached while ETH trades at roughly $2,300 — far below its all-time high of around $4,900 reached in late 2025. The people adding to the holder count right now are not buying into a euphoric bull market. They’re buying into a network that has pulled back significantly from its peak. That’s a different kind of conviction.
The Active Address Signal That Analysts Are Calling “Rare”
The holder count is notable, but the active address data may be the more significant signal. On-chain analyst CryptoonChain flagged on April 28 that the 100-day simple moving average for Ethereum’s active addresses has reached its highest level ever recorded — 587,000 addresses per day. What makes this unusual is not just the absolute number, but what it represents: sustained, consistent network usage at a level that has never been seen before, even during the peak price periods of 2021 and 2025.
Active addresses measure how many unique addresses are sending or receiving transactions on a given day. The 100-day SMA smooths out the daily noise and gives you a picture of the underlying trend. When that trend hits an all-time high while the price is trading 52% below its peak, you have what CryptoonChain described as a “rare” divergence — one where people are using the Ethereum blockchain without concerning themselves with what is going on with the price. That kind of usage-price divergence has historically preceded significant price recoveries.
“The 100-day SMA for Ethereum’s active addresses is at the highest point ever. It is at 587,000 even when ETH price is stalling. There seems to be something different this time because active addresses and price move in the same direction. What is happening is rare.”
CryptoonChain, on-chain analyst, April 28, 2026
The last two times the 50-day SMA crossed above the 100-day SMA on the ETH price chart — in November 2024 and May 2025 — Ethereum subsequently gained 78% and 95% respectively. As of April 29, 2026, those two moving averages are converging again. The technical setup alone doesn’t guarantee a repeat, but the combination of a technical crossover with record-high network activity is the kind of confluence that tends to get attention from traders who track on-chain fundamentals.
Exchange Reserves at a 10-Year Low
The holder and active address data is reinforced by another on-chain metric that has been moving quietly in the background. According to CryptoQuant, ETH exchange reserves currently sit near 14.5 million tokens — the lowest level since 2016. Over 331,000 ETH have been withdrawn from exchanges since April 19 alone, a net outflow that dwarfs the 45,000 ETH that Galaxy Digital deposited across Binance, Bybit, and OKX in the same period.
Exchange reserves matter because they represent the supply of ETH that is immediately available for sale. When reserves fall, it means holders are moving their ETH off exchanges and into self-custody or staking — neither of which is a selling behavior. The current 10-year low in exchange reserves, combined with record holder counts and record active addresses, paints a picture of a network where the people who own ETH are choosing to hold it rather than sell it, even as the price remains subdued.
| On-Chain Metric | Current Reading | Signal |
|---|---|---|
| Total ETH Holders | 190 million | All-time high (Santiment, Apr 28) |
| Active Addresses (100-day SMA) | 587,000/day | All-time high (CryptoonChain, Apr 28) |
| ETH Exchange Reserves | ~14.5 million ETH | Lowest since 2016 (CryptoQuant) |
| ETH Withdrawn from Exchanges (since Apr 19) | 331,000+ ETH | Net outflow despite Galaxy Digital inflow |
| ETH Staked (Beacon Chain) | ~36.6 million ETH | ~30% of circulating supply |
The staking data adds another layer. Approximately 36.6 million ETH — roughly 30% of the circulating supply — is currently staked on the Beacon Chain. Staked ETH cannot be sold without going through an exit queue that currently takes several weeks. That means nearly a third of all ETH is effectively locked out of the market, reducing the available float and creating a structural supply constraint that doesn’t show up in traditional price analysis. For more on how institutional staking has been reshaping Ethereum’s supply dynamics, see our deep dive on BlackRock’s staked Ethereum ETF going live.
Three Times More Holders Than Bitcoin — But Half the Market Cap
The holder comparison with Bitcoin deserves more attention than it typically gets. Bitcoin has approximately 60 million holders. Ethereum has 190 million. Ethereum’s holder base is more than three times larger, yet Ethereum’s market cap is roughly half of Bitcoin’s. There are legitimate reasons for this discrepancy — Bitcoin’s narrative as digital gold commands a scarcity premium that Ethereum, as a programmable platform, doesn’t capture in the same way. But the gap between holder base and market cap is striking enough to warrant scrutiny.
Part of the explanation lies in the nature of Ethereum holders. Many of the 190 million addresses hold very small amounts of ETH — dust from DeFi interactions, airdrop recipients, or users who hold ETH primarily to pay gas fees rather than as a store of value. The distribution of holdings is far more dispersed than Bitcoin’s. But dispersed adoption is still adoption, and the trend line — holder count growing while price lags — is exactly the kind of setup that on-chain analysts have historically flagged as a precursor to repricing.
BeInCrypto noted on April 28 that “from an on-chain analysis perspective, this glaring divergence implies that Ethereum may currently be undervalued.” That’s a careful framing — “may be undervalued” is not a price prediction, it’s an observation about the relationship between network fundamentals and market price. The same divergence existed in early 2023, when ETH was trading around $1,200 and on-chain metrics were already signaling the network’s underlying health. The subsequent rally to $4,900 vindicated the on-chain view, though the timing was impossible to predict.
The Counterargument: Why Metrics Don’t Always Move Prices
It would be intellectually dishonest to present the on-chain data without acknowledging the bearish case. Network metrics and price are not the same thing, and there are periods — sometimes extended ones — where strong fundamentals coexist with weak price action. The macro environment matters: the Federal Reserve’s rate posture, broader risk appetite, and Bitcoin’s price trajectory all exert significant influence on ETH regardless of what Ethereum’s active addresses are doing.
There’s also the question of what’s driving the active address count. If a significant portion of the 587,000 daily active addresses are bots, arbitrage scripts, or MEV (maximal extractable value) operations rather than genuine human users, the signal is less meaningful than it appears. On-chain analysts generally acknowledge this caveat, though the 100-day SMA smoothing does reduce the impact of short-term bot activity spikes. The ETF outflow picture also complicates the narrative — as we covered in our analysis of Ethereum ETFs posting $50 million in outflows, institutional sentiment through traditional financial channels has been more mixed than the on-chain data suggests.
The RSI on the daily ETH chart is hovering around 50 — neutral territory, not oversold. That means there isn’t a technical “coiled spring” setup where the price has been compressed to a point where a snap-back is mechanically likely. The bullish on-chain case requires patience, and patience is in short supply in crypto markets.
Final Thoughts: What 190 Million Holders Tells You — and What It Doesn’t
The convergence of record holder counts, record active addresses, and 10-year-low exchange reserves is a meaningful signal about the health of the Ethereum network as a platform. It tells you that people are using Ethereum, that they’re holding ETH rather than selling it, and that the network’s underlying adoption continues to grow regardless of price. That’s a strong foundation.
What it doesn’t tell you is when the price will reflect that foundation. On-chain fundamentals are a leading indicator, not a timing tool. The divergence between Ethereum’s network metrics and its price has been building for months, and it could continue to build for months more before the market catches up — or it could resolve quickly if macro conditions shift in favor of risk assets.
The real question is whether 190 million people holding ETH represents a floor that limits downside, or simply a large number of people who are currently sitting on unrealized losses. The on-chain data suggests the former. The price chart, for now, remains agnostic.
