Ethereum at its highest for network usage

The use of the Ethereum network is currently at an all-time high. Taking as a parameter the Ethereum Daily Gas Used, the graph shows that since the beginning of May it has been continuously reaching its all-time highs. 

Already in September 2019, there were some peaks, but it was only for a relatively short period, from the 20th to the 30th of the month, for only 11 days during which it remained around 60 billion. 

But then it first returned to around 50 billion and then dropped to 40 billion. 

This time, however, it rose steadily above 50 billion from March 9th, and has been above this threshold for two and a half months. 

Actually, since May 7th it has been stable around 60 billion and this time it does not seem to be a momentary peak lasting a few days. 

In particular, on Saturday, May 23rd, 2020, it reached its highest ever figure of 61.673 billion. 

The current growth trend of this metric began in January, after a drop lasting since the previous peaks in September 2019. 

All this indicates that the Ethereum network is currently experiencing its highest-ever period of use, which could also be linked to the price of ETH. 

Admittedly, the current price is lower than it was in mid-2019, but apart from the momentary slump in mid-March, it has risen a lot from $130, where it fluctuated at the end of 2019.

It is possible that the price of ETH is positively affected by the news about the future launch of Ethereum 2.0, but it is also possible that demand is sustained precisely because of the need to finance gas. 

In fact, the price of gas is also rising. It is not at historical highs due to the fact that in the past, in some moments, there have been very high peaks, but when considering the period between September 2019 and today, it turns out that on the day of the collapse of the financial markets, March 12th, 2020, and the following day, the average daily price of Ethereum gas rose to 85 Gwei, and from May 10th, it has been fluctuating around 35 Gwei, with peaks of 48. 

For example, in September 2019 the maximum peak was 35 Gwei on average per day, so its current cost is higher than the maximum peak in September 2019. 

Wei is the smallest exchangeable unit of Ether (ETH), equal to 10^-18 ETH, and Gwei is one billion Wei, equal to 10^-9 ETH (or one-billionth ETH). 

The maximum peaks in network usage and the increased cost of gas, reveal that the Ethereum network is in fact increasingly used, perhaps also thanks to the growth of DeFi, which began in 2019, but with a real explosion in 2020, just before the collapse of the financial markets in mid-March.