Ethereum and Solana activity surges while token prices and fees tank

The big layer-1 networks are getting busier, but they aren't getting richer. A fresh Bitwise report shows that Ethereum, Solana, and Avalanche all saw a spike in user activity recently. That's the good news. The bad news is that ETH, SOL, and AVAX are all trading at least 50% lower than their levels from a year ago. It's a strange disconnect for a market that usually ties price to usage. On-chain revenues are sliding because transactions have become significantly cheaper for the average trader. While cheaper fees help onboard more users, they're starving the protocols of the massive revenue figures seen during previous bull runs. Even as the pipes get wider and the traffic gets heavier, the actual income generated by these chains is thinning out. Investors are now left staring at a riddle: how do you value a network that's doing more work for less pay? We'll see if the sheer volume of users can eventually offset the shrinking margins per trade.