Ethereum’s economy is now dominated by the stablecoin value transfer, an incredible feat, according to Ryan Watkins, research analyst at Messari.

Essentially, ethereum is being outshone by ERC-20 backed stablecoins on its own network. The flip occurred in mid-2019 on a weekly basis and has remained valid ever since.

Ether's trailing 12 month transfer volume fell from approximately $430 billion to $150 billion in 2019. Stablecoins' volume also followed ether's downtrend until mid-2019 after which it began rising.

Tether (USDT) volumes rose sharply after Tether Ltd began migrating tokens to ethereum in April 2019. Alongside (USDT), MakerDAO's DAI also gained ground, according to research by Joel John, an analyst at Outlier Ventures.

The ethereum network allows for numerous tokens to operate within its ecosystem amid the backdrop of interoperability, enabling seamless transactions between multiple parties.

It's worth noting that users need to pay fees to miners for successfully conducting a transaction or executing a contract on the Ethereum blockchain platform. That fee is referred to as "gas", whose price is determined by miners.

Users need to have ether in order to pay gas. So, a rise in the stablecoin volume on the ethereum blockchain is not necessarily a negative development for ether.