In 2026, the on-chain activity of the Ethereum mainnet entered a phase of explosive growth. According to growthepie data, as of May 2, the recent monthly transaction volume of the Ethereum mainnet has surged to approximately 72.8 million transactions, setting a new historical record. This growth shows a clear acceleration in the macro cycle: in the first quarter of 2026, the total transaction volume of the mainnet was approximately 200.4 million transactions, a quarter-on-quarter increase of about 43%; while the transaction volume in just the past 7 days reached about 18.5 million transactions, a quarter-on-quarter increase of about 38%, and a year-on-year increase of as much as 110%. In terms of transaction composition, token transfers remain the core driving force, accounting for approximately 62%; utility-type (including inscriptions) and financial-type transactions contributed about 13% and 8% respectively; cross-chain transactions accounted for about 2%, with the remaining 15% being untagged transactions. The data indicates that Ethereum has evolved from a simple value transmission network into a complex ecosystem that supports diversified financial and practical scenarios.

However, the "explosion" of on-chain interactions has not masked the spread of systemic risks. While transaction volumes hit new highs, multi-chain expansion and security alerts are resonating in sync. Recently, Specter detected large-scale attacks targeting old wallets created 4 to 8 years ago, involving hundreds of addresses, with estimated losses exceeding $800,000; at the same time, the Syndicate cross-chain bridge suffered a malicious upgrade due to the leakage of the developer’s private key, resulting in approximately 18.5 million SYND and other tokens being stolen. This coexistence of high activity and high risk reveals the severe challenges the current Ethereum ecosystem faces in security defense and private key management mechanisms while pursuing scalable expansion and cross-chain interoperability. As funding pathways deeply penetrate multi-chain and cross-chain protocols, how to strengthen security boundaries while maintaining high-frequency trading has become the core conflict point of market concern.

72.8 million transactions reach a new high: What is Ethereum busy with?

According to AiCoin data, on May 2, 2026, the Ethereum mainnet's monthly transaction volume climbed to approximately 72.8 million transactions, setting a new historical record. This surge is not driven by a single speculative behavior but showcases a diversified demand structure. In the overall monthly transaction composition, token transfers still occupy a core position, accounting for about 62%; utility transactions (including inscriptions) account for about 13%, and financial interactions account for about 8%. This indicates that Ethereum is evolving from a purely asset settlement layer to a more complex application carrier platform, effectively lifting the basic demand on-chain due to the joint efforts of utility and financial scenarios. Although cross-chain transactions only account for about 2% of the total, under the context of a significant expansion of the mainnet transaction base, this 2% still represents a considerable scale of multi-chain interaction demand, reflecting Ethereum's position as a multi-chain ecosystem hub.

From a longer time dimension, this peak is an inevitable result of the sustained rise in on-chain activity, rather than a one-off spike. In the first quarter of 2026, the total transaction volume on the Ethereum mainnet reached approximately 200.4 million transactions, a quarter-on-quarter increase of about 43%. In the past 7 days before and after May, the weekly transaction volume was about 18.5 million transactions, with a quarter-on-quarter increase of 38% and a year-on-year increase of as much as 110%. This ladder-like growth from quarterly to weekly confirms that Ethereum's on-chain interactions are in a high-slope rising channel. With the penetration of untagged transactions (about 15%) and various emerging protocols, Ethereum's ecological inertia in handling high-concurrency, high-value interactions is strengthening, and this continuously rising trend also lays the groundwork for subsequent market volatility and security challenges.

Old wallets under fire: The invisible minefield of Ethereum account security

Behind the noise of transaction volumes soaring to historical highs, a precise "onslaught" targeting existing Ethereum users is quietly unfolding. According to Specter monitoring data, on May 1, 2026, a series of ongoing attacks on old Ethereum wallets created between 4 to 8 years ago was disclosed. These wallets are often in a state of long-term holding or low-frequency interaction, and attackers exploited a certain vulnerability that has not been fully disclosed to harvest assets. So far, hundreds of wallets have been affected, with total losses expected to exceed $800,000.

On-chain path tracing reveals the attackers' highly skilled cash-out methods. According to AiCoin data, after gaining access, attackers quickly diverted the stolen assets: approximately 324.741 Ethereum were exchanged for Bitcoin via cross-chain protocols to evade blacklist tracking within the Ethereum ecosystem; another 2 Ethereum were directly transferred to centralized exchanges. Despite the rapid cleansing action, about $66,000 worth of assets remain in the compromised EVM wallets, showing that the attack is still ongoing.

Specter analysis suggests that this large-scale loss is likely due to private key leakage, suggesting that a wallet provider's underlying private key storage solution may have been compromised, but the specific source of the leakage still needs further confirmation. This event serves as a wake-up call for long-term holders: even "cold wallets" that are not frequently interacted with, if their private key generation or storage environment bears historical risks, can still become invisible minefields for hackers in the context of increasing on-chain activity. Users need to reassess their security configurations from years ago to guard against such long-range account risks.

Cross-chain bridge suffers malicious upgrade: Syndicate private key leakage

While old wallets faced precise breaches, the protocol layer's security defenses also revealed a critical gap due to mismanagement. On May 1, 2026, Syndicate officially disclosed the results of its investigation into the cross-chain bridge security incident, confirming the root cause of the incident to be the leakage of the developer's private key. According to AiCoin data, attackers gained access to the core keys through compromised terminals, subsequently using this access to conduct malicious upgrades on cross-chain bridge contracts on two chains, directly bypassing the original security logic. This attack led to the theft of about 18.5 million SYND tokens from Commons cross-chain bridge, along with approximately $50,000 worth of other tokens, of which about $330,000 worth of SYND has been swiftly dumped on-chain by the attackers, while approximately $50,000 worth of customer tokens were illegally transferred on another application chain.

In response to the asset loss, Syndicate exhibited an attitude of direct compensation, clearly stating that all affected users will receive full compensation of 18.5 million SYND, along with additional compensation. A review of the attack pathway revealed that although the relevant private keys were stored in a password manager accessible to only a few individuals, no additional encryption layer was added outside the manager; more critically, while Syndicate had set up alarms and a kill switch for the cross-chain bridge, these protective measures did not cover the core scenario of "contract upgrades," leading to the system's failure to intercept the attacker in time while tampering with the logic.

To completely eliminate the risks brought by single-point key breaches, Syndicate plans to add an independent encryption layer for developer keys outside the password manager and further restrict access permissions. In future contract management, the team will introduce hardware wallet support or multi-signature mechanisms to execute upgrade operations and reinforce real-time alarms and automated kill-switch functions for upgrade pathways. This transition from single authority to distributed authority, from passive defense to full-scenario monitoring, reflects a reassessment by the protocol of its control over underlying asset security in light of the increased Ethereum transaction volume and frequent cross-chain interactions.

USDT0 small-scale cross-chain gains popularity: Retail wallets account for over 90%

Against the backdrop of the ongoing rise in transaction activity on the Ethereum mainnet, the on-chain performance of USDT0 exhibits an extreme holding structure. According to relevant reports, the user base of USDT0 displays a clear retail characteristic, with approximately 99.2% of wallet account balances being below $1,000. Although small accounts dominate in numbers, the distribution boundaries for medium and large funds remain clear: about 1,200 addresses hold between $100,000 and $1 million, while there are only 35 "whale" addresses with balances exceeding $10 million. This highly "long-tail effect" distribution pattern confirms the asset's high penetration in small-scale cross-chain and daily transaction scenarios.

Despite a user base leaning towards retail, large transactions still dominate in terms of contribution to the flow of funds. Data shows that transactions exceeding $1 million contribute to about 68.8% of the total transaction volume, indicating the core weight of large funds in cross-chain liquidity adjustment and settlement. As an asset launched by Everdawn Labs and supported by LayerZero and Tether, USDT0 is strictly pegged 1:1 to USDT and has now expanded to 23 blockchain networks. As of May 1, 2026, its cumulative transaction volume has reached $86.7 billion. By holding scale, USDT0 has become the third-largest holder of USDT, surpassed only by Binance and OKX, increasingly highlighting its role as a liquidity medium in the multi-chain ecosystem.

RWA protocols and AI agents: New players in multi-chain infrastructure

Amidst the surge in demand for multi-chain interactions, RWA (Real World Assets) protocols are accelerating their evolution towards institutional-grade infrastructure. According to AiCoin data, as of around April 30, 2026, the RWA tokenization protocol KAIO has officially launched its native token KAIO and established the KAIO Foundation, specifically responsible for protocol governance, treasury management, and ecological operations. As a bridge connecting traditional finance and DeFi, KAIO has successfully launched 5 funds operated by top asset management institutions such as BlackRock, Brevan Howard, and Hamilton Lane, with the overall TVL of the protocol being around $100 million, and it has been deployed on more than 10 blockchain networks. In terms of token distribution model, KAIO has a total supply set at 10 billion, with 37.5% allocated for community and liquidity incentives, forming the largest portion of distribution; additionally, foundation allocation accounts for 17%, while tokens for the team and early investors are subject to strict lock-up and phased release mechanisms, ensuring that no tokens are released in the initial stage of TGE (Token Generation Event) to maintain the stability of long-term protocol development.

Meanwhile, the cross-chain financial infrastructure for the AI Agent economy has also achieved a crucial breakthrough. On April 29, 2026, B.AI announced a strategic partnership with deBridge, aiming to leverage the latter’s 0-TVL model and gas-free cross-chain technology to build intent-oriented cross-chain infrastructure. The two parties plan to utilize deBridge’s MCP architecture and intent-driven Bundles to explore efficient and secure autonomous trading systems to accelerate the seamless execution of AI agents in complex multi-chain environments. This collaboration not only addresses the funding friction issues for AI agents in cross-chain interactions but also enhances the security of autonomous trading through technological means. As KAIO penetrates the institutional asset side and B.AI lays out intelligent trading, Ethereum and its associated chains are transforming from a simple asset ledger into more complex institutional networks and autonomous agent economies.

Transaction volume increase and concurrent security incidents: The next test for multi-chain expansion

According to AiCoin data, on May 2, 2026, the Ethereum mainnet set a new historical high of approximately 72.8 million monthly transaction volumes, with the total transaction volume for the first quarter surpassing 200.4 million transactions and weekly data continuing to show an upward trend. This surge in activity is accompanied by clear structured characteristics: token transfers account for about 62%, while utility, financial, and cross-chain interactions coexist diversely, marking that the on-chain ecosystem is transitioning from a simple asset ledger to a complex application network. With USDT0 expanding to 23 chains and becoming the third-largest holder of USDT, alongside KAIO carrying approximately $100 million of institutional-grade RWA assets on more than 10 chains, multi-chain interaction has become the current market's core norm. This environment, jointly constructed by retail users, institutional funds, and the AI agent economy driven by B.AI and deBridge, while releasing liquidity, also raises higher demands for governance and security boundaries of the infrastructure.

However, the security risks concealed behind high-frequency expansion are becoming a constraint on multi-chain evolution. Recent disclosures by Specter regarding ongoing attacks targeting wallets created 4 to 8 years ago, along with the incident involving the Syndicate's cross-chain bridge contract being maliciously upgraded due to private key leakage, have exposed that key management and contract upgrade processes remain weak links in the security system. Particularly, the Syndicate incident revealed that the alarm and kill switch mechanisms failed to cover the upgrade scenario, reflecting insufficient defensive redundancy in the protocol facing compromised permissions. The market needs to closely track whether the transaction structure of Ethereum continues to lean towards utility and cross-chain interactions, as well as the specific implementations of various cross-chain bridges, RWA protocols, and AI agent infrastructure in hardware multi-signatures, upgrade control, and risk response mechanisms. Under the causal chain of "increased activity—multi-chain expansion—rising security requirements," the security defense capabilities of the protocol layer will become a key clue for observing the evolution of subsequent market structures.

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