How much ETH has been burned?
As of April 2023, there was a total of 108,140 ETH burned, which was a monthly all-time high since June 2022 (122,074 ether). This represented a 17.5% month-on-month (MoM) growth from March 2023, which saw 92,057 ether burned.
On a quarterly basis, Q1 2023 had a total of 242,001 ether burned, which was a quarterly high since Q2 2022 (457,284 ether). This represented a 50.9% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth from Q4 2022, which saw 160,386 ether burned. Ethereum burning has seen steady and consistent growth, with an average 4.1% MoM growth rate in the past twelve months.
Is more ETH being burned than created?
Six months following the successful Merge upgrade, ETH burns have outpaced emissions. April 2023 saw a net burn of 9,643 ether, with 98,497 ether minted. The monthly net burn first turned positive back in October 2022, which had a net burn of 4,765 ether.
On a quarterly basis, Q1 2023 marked the first quarter of positive net burn, with a net burn of 74,373 ether. The milestone marks a significant change in the inflationary supply pressure of Ethereum, with the token seeing net emissions as high as 1.0 million ether just in Q3 2022.
Which protocol burned the most ETH?
Uniswap remained the largest protocol that burned the most ETH, having burned a total of 21,479.9 ether in April 2023. This marked an increase of 100%, having burned 10,726.8 ETH in March 2023.
Uniswap has seen an increase in burned ETH, especially with the advent of memecoins traded on the exchange.
The second protocol with the highest total burn was XEN, which burned 4,738.4 ether in April 2023. This represented a 987% MoM growth, having burned 435 ether in March 2023. The large increase in burned ETH can be attributed to the resurgence in the popularity of the token.
USDT was the third largest, with 4,497.0 ETH burned, followed by Blur, with 2,452.2 ETH burned. The remaining protocols in the top 8, burned less than 2,000 ETH each. MetaMask burned 1,982.8 ETH, followed by 1inch with 1,484.6 ETH, USDC with 1,149.5 ETH, and OpenSea burned 13.2 ETH.
Methodology
The study examined the amount of Ethereum (ETH) minted and burned in total, using Dune Analytics data from January 1, 2022, to April 30, 2023.
The study also examined the top 9 methods which burned the most ETH. The top 9 methods are: ETH Transfers, Uniswap, XEN, USDT, Blur.io, MetaMask, 1inch, USDC, and OpenSea.
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Curious to know more about the state of crypto in the first quarter of 2023? Check out our comprehensive 2023 Q1 Crypto Industry Report, that extensively covers everything from the crypto market landscape to analyzing Bitcoin and Ethereum, DeFi and NFT ecosystems, and more!
Shaun Paul Lee
Shaun is a Research Associate at CoinGecko with a fondness for memes and farming on the blockchain. Follow the author on Twitter @ShaunPaulLee
