ETH Network Adoption Soars Past Bitcoin as Leverage Washes Out

Ether network has 167 M wallets compared to Bitcoin at 57 M High leverage ETH longs are being liquidated as on-chain metrics show an ever-widening adoption gap.

Ethereum has overtaken Bitcoin in terms of network adoption. The disparity between the two largest cryptocurrencies is growing.

The latest statistics show a sharp difference in user interactivity. Ether has close to three times as many active wallets as Bitcoin.

Leverage Traders Face Reckoning

As per CW8900 on X, the major highly leveraged long positions in ETFs were just liquidated. Trader observed that in case ETH reaches 3,050, big short positions will be liquidated.

A significant portion of high leverage long positions in $ETH have been liquidated.

If $ETH rises to $3,050, large amount of short positions will be liquidated. pic.twitter.com/MX8BQOa5H7

— CW (@CW8900) December 19, 2025

Source: CW8900

The leverage flush represents volatility in derivatives markets. Over-margin traders were taken in recent price action.

Both directions are risky at this point in time, according to market dynamics. Long liquidations have already been realized as shorts are still exposed on important levels.

Network Adoption Gap Widens Dramatically

Santiment published important on-chain data comparing leading cryptocurrencies. Ether is a leader with 167.96 million non-empty wallets in its network.

📊 Among top cap assets, here are the amount of non-empty wallets on each network currently:

🪙 Ethereum $ETH: 167.96M
🪙 Bitcoin $BTC: 57.62M
🪙 Tether $USDT: 9.63M
🪙 Dogecoin $DOGE: 8.13M
🪙 XRP Ledger $XRP: 7.41M
🪙 Cardano $ADA: 4.54M
🪙 USD Coin $USDC: 4.39M
🪙 ChainLink… pic.twitter.com/ciRBUp4GxE

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) December 18, 2025

Source: Santiment

Bitcoin is far behind, with only 57.62 million active addresses. Tether is sitting at the number three position with 9.63 million wallet addresses at the present time.

The statistics indicate that Ethereum is dominant in terms of active usage: the number of users holding ETH is almost three times bigger than BTC.

Dogecoin has 8.13 million wallets compared to 7.41 million that XRP possesses. Cardano and USD Coin are ranked second with 4.54 million and 4.39 million, respectively. Chainlink completes the list with 819,000 active wallets.

The difference between Ethereum and other assets is still significant. These measures represent actual network action on top of guesses.

The increased number of users who opt to use Ethereum indicates more fundamental adoption dynamics.

The difference in the number of wallets undermines the story of Bitcoin dominance. The network of Ethereum is much more actively engaged by users on a daily basis.