Blockchain transactions will increase as payments fall on mainstream networks

Several large blockchain networks handled more transactions in December despite declining user fees, a sign that recent upgrades are increasing capacity and easing competition for block space, according to data compiled by Nansen.

According to data from Nansen, Bitcoin, Tron, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche and The Open Network (TON) have seen monthly increases in transactions, while payment revenue has declined significantly over the same period.

Ethereum transactions increased by 16% despite a 57% decrease in payment revenue. Polygon showed a similar disparity, with transaction counts jumping 82 percent and payments falling 47 percent. Arbitrum and Avalanche also showed a striking trades-up, pay-down pattern.

Tron, Bitcoin and TONE recorded more modest trading growth of 0.6%, 7.7% and 7.9% respectively. However, these chains saw a decline in fee revenue, reinforcing a broader trend of easing blockchain pressure on networks.

The trends indicate a structural change in how blockchains handle demand. Expanding updates, packages, and cheap implementation environments without causing congestion or battles for inclusion.

According to the Nansen Artificial Intelligence Help Desk, percentage change figures are not strictly month-on-month comparisons but reflect changes relative to recent activity baselines.

As a result, a sharp reversal or pull-out may be recorded, down more than 100%, representing a net negative flow on activity rather than actual “negative trades”.

Transactions will increase as payment pressure fades on major networks

In the year On November 27, Ethereum raised its block gas limit to 60 million, allowing more transactions and contract calls to enter each block, easing congestion.

The result was reinforced by the Fusaka update in December, which introduced PeerDAS to dramatically expand data availability and lower costs for bundles, reducing the overall payment burden as activity increases.

Polygon showed a similar pattern after deploying its Madugiri hard fork in early December. As Cointelegraph previously reported, the redesign cuts consensus times to one second and aims to increase consumption by up to 33%, making gas-heavy operations more efficient and predictable.

The network has positioned its improvements around stablecoins and real-world asset (RWA) tokens, which generate more frequent but lower-urgency transactions without raising fees.

Meanwhile, Avalanche's performance appears to be a mixed bag of ecosystem activities.

According to Nansen Research's Avalanche Ecosystem report, the network's marketing growth is driven by stable coin payments, institutional settlement and consumer platforms such as ticketing and gaming.

These use cases generate higher throughput but create less competition for blockchain, allowing transactions to increase while fees fall.

Meanwhile, the arbitrage pattern reflects the economies of scale of the bundle. The network processes off-chain transactions and posts compressed data to Ethereum, allowing transaction volumes to grow without a commensurate increase in fees.

The design of the payment market separates execution costs from Ethereum's call data costs, reducing payment volatility even under high load.

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Not all networks were equally diverse.

Several major blockchains have recorded high transactions alongside falling fees, while others have seen activity and fee income decline in tandem, indicating a quiet onchain environment over the past 30 days.

BNB Chain had a sharp pullback, with transactions down 79% and payouts down 14%.

Base and HyperEVM recorded the steepest contraction in activity. Base transactions are down 75%, while fee income is down 63%. HyperEVM followed a similar pattern, with transactions down 119 percent and payments down 46 percent, indicating a short-term drop in usage in December.

Solana remains the busiest network with 1.7 billion transactions. Even this result represents a 21 percent month-over-month decline, Nansen said. Similarly, fee income fell by 17 percent.

These synchronous declines are consistent with broader crypto market conditions. According to CoinGecko, the total crypto market capitalization fluctuated between $2.9 trillion and $3.1 trillion throughout December.

With prices, volatility and capital turnover stagnating, onchain activity on networks will slow down in parallel.

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