Bubble
Ethereum ETH
Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $1,919.78, ranked #2 by market cap at $231.70B, with 24h volume of $10.26B.
Data snapshot: 2026-07-22 18:00 UTC.
Ethereum is the largest smart-contract platform in crypto, launched in 2015 to let developers build decentralized applications, tokens and DeFi protocols on top of its blockchain. It moved from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake in 2022 ("The Merge") and remains the base layer most DeFi, NFT and stablecoin activity is built on. Ethereum is where most of the assets on this map actually live: a large share of the tokens tracked here are ERC-20 contracts or bridged versions of them, so ETH tends to move with the broader altcoin complex rather than independently of it. The network settles transactions for rollups, stablecoin issuers, lending markets and NFT contracts, and ETH pays the gas that all of that consumes. Since the switch to proof of stake, new issuance is offset by fees that are burned, so net supply growth depends on how busy the chain is. On a sector view, watching ETH against the Layer 2 group is often more informative than watching it against Bitcoin.
What is ETH actually used for?
ETH pays transaction fees on Ethereum, is staked by validators to secure the network, and is used as collateral across most of the lending and derivatives protocols built on it. Demand for it is therefore tied to how much the network is being used.
Why do so many other coins on this map move with Ethereum?
A large share of tokens tracked here are issued on Ethereum or on rollups that settle to it. When activity and liquidity on Ethereum change, that flows through to the assets built on top of it.
Does burning fees make ETH deflationary?
Only when fee burn exceeds new issuance, which depends on network activity. In quiet periods issuance can outpace the burn. It is a variable, not a fixed property.
How does Ethereum compare with Layer 2 tokens on the map?
Layer 2 tokens are much smaller by market cap, so their bubbles are far smaller, but their percentage moves are often larger. Comparing the colour of ETH with the colour of the Layer 2 group shows whether a move is chain-wide or specific to scaling projects.
Market cap decides how big a bubble is drawn, so rank is what places ETH on the map relative to the rest of its sector.
| Rank | Coin | Market cap |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Bitcoin (BTC) | $1322.76B |
| #2 | Ethereum (ETH) | $231.70B |
| #6 | XRP (XRP) | $70.85B |
| #7 | Solana (SOL) | $45.09B |
| #315 | DigiByte (DGB) | $79.18M |