Ethereum has experienced at least 3 'usage rate leap periods' in its history, each time the price and status were raised to a new level.
First time:
2017–2018 | From 'nobody uses' to 'ICO everyone chain'
Before the outbreak (≈1% usage rate)
Ethereum is just a playground for tech enthusiasts
Ordinary people have no idea what 'smart contracts' are
Trigger point for the outbreak
ICO craze
Issuing coins, fundraising, and transfers all on ETH
Result
Daily trading volume skyrockets
Gas often gets congested to the point of questioning life
ETH from $10 → $1,400
👉 This is the first '10% usage rate shock':
People in the crypto world are really using it for the first time on a large scale.
The second time:
2020–2021 | DeFi Summer: From 'usable' to 'indispensable'
Before the explosion
ETH is mainly a transfer chain
Single-purpose
Trigger point of the explosion
Uniswap, Aave, Compound
Ordinary people start:
Borrowing money
Market making
Mining
Arbitrage
What has happened
TVL from tens of billions → hundreds of billions
On-chain starts 'making real money'
ETH becomes the financial system itself
Price feedback
$88 → $4,878
👉 This is the second time:
'Useful' → 'Can't do without it'
The third time (happening):
2024–2026 | Layer 2 + RWA: From 'crypto tools' to 'real-world use'
Many people did not realize this round.
Before the explosion
ETH = for trading coins
Ordinary users find it expensive and slow
What is happening now
Base / Arbitrum users surge
USDC, national bonds, and funds start on-chain
Large institutions use L2, but settlement is still on ETH
You can understand it as:
ETH is moving from '10% of the crypto circle is using it',
Heading towards '10% of the financial world is using it'.
If this step is successful, the level will be higher than the previous two times.
Every real major event of ETH,
It's not 'the price rises first',
But rather 'usage rate breaks the circle first'.
The price is just the result after the usage rate has stepped up.
So is this considered 'the eve of the 10% explosion'?
To be honest:
If you take 'global financial/asset settlement' as the total pie
Then ETH's penetration rate hasn't even reached 5%
It is precisely because of this:
It rises slowly
It does not stimulate
It does not tell myths
But also because of this:
It hasn't completed the most valuable part yet.
Every real bull market in Ethereum's history,
It's not because 'it's more appealing to talk about',
But it's because the usage rate crossed the critical point of 10% from 1%.
And today, Layer 2 + RWA,
It's pushing ETH towards the next real use breakthrough.
