Ethereum is soaring in 2021, with the value of transactions settled on the network surging this year.

As per Messari research, Ethereum has settled $926 trillion worth of transactions so far in Q1, 700% more than processed during the first quarter last year.

As it stands, the network is on track to settle $1.6 trillion in transactions during the first quarter. Over the past 12 months, Ethereum has settled $2.1 trillion in transactions, Cointelegraph reports.

Should the $1.6 trillion forecast by Messari be accurate, Ethereum’s quarterly settlement value will have risen 1,280% compared to Q1 2020, and over 5,000% compared to Q1 2019. 

According to Messari researcher Ryan Watkins, the data offsets the belief that Ethereum is seeing a mass exit of users due to its high gas fees, stating: “Incredible scale for a technology that critics claimed couldn’t scale.”

Furthermore, Ethereum’s recent rise in settlement value can be put down to mammoth growth in the DeFi and non-fungible token sector, the majority of which is based upon Ethereum.

The huge demand on the network led to gas prices skyrocketing to record highs.

As such, numerous retail traders were becoming priced out of using the Ethereum mainnet for smaller transactions.

Earlier this week, average Ethereum transaction fees hit all-time highs of $40, with the cryptocurrency generating $50 million worth of transaction fees in a single day, the Cointelegraph report goes on to say.

According to cryptofees.info, there has been an average daily fee generation of $32 million for Ethereum over the last week. In comparison, Bitcoin has generated just $8 million daily on average over the last seven days.

Whereas on Bitinfocharts.com, average transaction fees rose to a record high of close to $40 on Tuesday.

At the time of writing, Ethereum’s fees dropped to an average of $21.