Ethereum achieved a remarkable milestone in Q4 — the number of smart contract deployments reached 8.7 million, setting a new record. Even more interesting is that this growth is not a fleeting trend but has been sustained for multiple consecutive quarters.

Analysts point out that this data is unlikely to be artificially inflated and more accurately reflects the genuine expansion of the Ethereum ecosystem. So, what is driving this round of growth?

First, the rapid development of Layer 2 networks. As Layer 2 solutions become increasingly mature, more developers and projects are choosing to deploy on these layers. Second, the rise of the RWA (Real-World Asset Tokenization) track, with more traditional assets being tokenized on-chain. Third, the prosperity of the stablecoin ecosystem, with various stablecoin application scenarios continuously expanding. Lastly, improvements in wallet and intents infrastructure, which significantly lower the barriers for developers to get started.

The combination of these factors demonstrates the strong growth momentum of the Ethereum ecosystem.