That ether ETH/USD The merger may not be as anticipated by newer members of the cryptocurrency space due to the decline in user activity on the network.

What happened: “While it’s now significantly more affordable to use Ethereum, user demand has lagged behind after much of the speculation has died down,” wrote IntoTheBlock’s lead researcher Lucas Outumoro in a Tuesday report.

Outumoro noted that this lower level of network activity is a common pattern in previous bear markets. Even Ethereum’s gas fees, which hit a two-year low, failed to attract more users to the network, he said.

“At these fee levels, even after the merger’s 90 percent issuance reduction, Ether would be inflationary. The lack of new entrants is likely a key reason for this low demand,” the analyst noted.

He noted that the merge excitement isn’t as appealing to new users as it is to members of the crypto community who have been around longer. This is evidenced by the number of newly created addresses on ETH hitting its lowest level since 2020 and the fact that people buying ETH on centralized exchanges tend to be older addresses.

“While there may be some buying from new entrants, the lack of new addresses on the chain shows that demand for blockchain usage is declining,” he said.

The analyst also found that despite the upcoming milestone merge event, relatively few people are looking for ETH. This could indicate that crypto natives are anticipating the event more accurately, while people outside the industry are still largely unaware, he said.

See also: Vitalik Buterin issues this important reminder ahead of the Ethereum merger

Price promotion: At press time, ETH is trading at $1,523, up 0.48% over the past 24 hours, according to data from Gasoline Pro.

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