Ether climbs 3% near $1,800 as tokenization and Robinhood Chain fuel demand

Ether rose 3% to $1,799.81 between Thursday and Friday, outperforming Bitcoin's 2.1% gain as tokenization growth and Robinhood Chain adoption drove fresh demand for the Ethereum ecosystem.

Robinhood Chain, an Arbitrum-based layer-2 network launched July 1, has netted $106 million in bridged Ether deposits, according to Token Terminal. The network reached 194,000 daily active users and generated roughly $39,000 in daily revenue, equivalent to a $14 million annualized run rate. Robinhood Markets, whose stock surged 3% to $118.60 on dual analyst upgrades from Morgan Stanley and Barclays, now offers tokenized stock trading in more than 120 countries.

Ethereum commands 47% of the real-world asset tokenization market, per Rwa.xyz data, with products including Ondo Finance's US Dollar Yield and Franklin Templeton's government bond token iBENJI. Leon Waidmann, head of research at Lisk, noted that Ethereum's total value locked of $260 billion has surpassed Ether's $210 billion market capitalization for the first time, a divergence he said shows the token is undervalued relative to the 2022 bear market.

Despite the bullish catalysts, Ether failed to break above $1,800 resistance. Decentralized application revenue on Ethereum fell to $11 million weekly from $20 million in the first quarter, while active addresses dropped to 3.2 million from 5.4 million, DefiLlama data shows. Ether's perpetual futures annualized funding rate slipped to 3%, below the 6% neutral threshold, pointing to weak conviction among leveraged bulls.

BitMine accumulation provides downside support

BitMine Immersion added 198,370 Ether to its treasury over the past 30 days, bringing its total reserves to $10.3 billion, according to Arkham Intelligence. The firm's buying accelerated after a $36 million withdrawal from Galaxy Digital on Thursday, which moved 20,500 Ether to a new wallet in a pattern consistent with prior BitMine purchases. The accumulation has helped establish a floor near $1,700, where BitMine has concentrated its buying interest.

On-chain weakness contrasts with institutional inflows

The divergence between institutional inflows and retail activity is widening. Ethereum's DApp ecosystem generated $11 million in weekly revenue, led by Sky at $3.1 million, Titan Builder at $2.4 million and Chalink at $1.1 million. Active addresses have contracted 40% from first-quarter levels, while competing blockchains such as Solana have gained ground in synthetic perpetual futures and automated yield vaults. Solana's tokenized securities market has grown to $568 million, though Ethereum's layer-2 networks still account for more than half of the broader RWA sector.

The mixed signals leave Ether in a narrow range. A break above $1,800 would require renewed conviction from derivatives traders, while a failure to hold current levels could trigger a retest of $1,700 support. The next catalyst is the July 26 expiry of monthly Ether options, where open interest is concentrated near the $1,800 strike.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.