Overview
The Ethereum network has experienced a notable decline in active nodes since early 2019, dropping by approximately 3,000 to 8,070 nodes as of December. Geographically, node distribution remains concentrated in the United States (35.42%), China (11.16%), and Germany (9.44%). Meanwhile, ETH's price shows bearish tendencies, with a key resistance level at $139.
Key Developments
- DeFi Milestone: Locked ETH in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols reached a record 2.931 million ETH.
- DEX Volume: Ethereum-based decentralized exchanges (DEXs) processed $23 billion in annual trading volume for 2019.
Market Analysis
Secondary Market Trends
- Price Action: ETH dipped below $120 before recovering to $129.56 (-9.4% weekly). Technical indicators suggest limited upside potential, with $139 acting as critical resistance.
Capital Flows:
- Net weekly outflows exceeded $50 million (-42% WoW).
- Largest single-day inflow: $12 million (Sunday); largest outflow: $25 million (Thursday).
On-Chain Activity
Large transfers (>5k ETH) surged 120% WoW, including:
- 78.9k ETH moved between PlusToken-controlled addresses.
- 29.5k ETH transferred between Binance wallets.
- Five transactions exceeded 50k ETH, totaling 178,900 ETH moved to unknown addresses.
Ecosystem Updates
Technology & Development
Eth2.0 Progress:
- v0.10.0 scheduled for January 2020 release.
- Least Authority audit underway focusing on DoS attacks and network security.
- Lighthouse testnet (mainnet-configuration) now operational.
- ProgPoW: EIP-1057 advanced to "Eligible for Inclusion" status pending further review.
DEX & dApp Metrics
| Platform | Weekly Volume (ETH) | User Count |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Tracked DEXs | 259,760 ($33M) | 15,340 |
| Top Performers | ||
| LedgerDex | +8.06% | |
| TokenJar | -13.33% |
- New dApp "Lottoshi" recorded merely 1 ETH in weekly volume.
Mining Statistics
- Hashrate: 154.2 TH/s (-11.53% WoW)
- Difficulty: 2,557 T (-9% WoW)
- Block Time: Extended to 17.3 seconds due to difficulty bomb.
Notable Events
- Funding: MakerDAO secured $27.5M from Dragonfly Capital and Paradigm.
- Grants: Gitcoin allocated $200K to ETH projects starting January 6.
- Whale Activity: An early ICO participant sold ~300k ETH ($39.3M at $131/ETH) over three months.
FAQ Section
Q: Why did Ethereum nodes decrease in 2019?
A: Node decline (from 25k in 2017 to 8k) may correlate with ETH's price depreciation and operational costs.
Q: What drives DeFi's ETH lockup growth?
A: Rising demand for lending/borrowing platforms and yield opportunities in protocols like MakerDAO.
Q: How significant is Eth2.0's v0.10.0 update?
A: It integrates new BLS standards critical for scaling and security in Phase 0.
👉 Explore real-time ETH price trends
👉 Deep dive into DeFi analytics
Data sources: OKEx, Tokenview, DAppTotal, DeFi Pulse
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