Ethereum is hovering around $1,750, down roughly 1.4% in the last 24 hours and about 11% lower year to date. The price is testing a critical support line at $1,700 — a level that, if it breaks on a daily close, could open the door to a slide toward $1,400-$1,500. But beneath the surface, developer activity tells a different story: new builders joining Ethereum hit nearly 140,000 in 2025, close to the all-time high set during the 2022 bear market.
The $1,700 Line in the Sand
Technical setups are increasingly binary. The 50-day EMA sits near $2,194 and the 200-day EMA near $2,510 — both have capped bounce attempts recently. If $1,700 holds as weekly support and macro sentiment stabilizes after the FOMC meeting, ETH could reclaim $2,000 within two to three weeks. If it fails, derivatives pressure could accelerate a drop to the $1,400-$1,500 zone. Standard Chartered and other institutional desks still hold constructive multi-year price targets, but near-term momentum is weak.
Builders Don't Care About Price
Developer intake has been remarkably decoupled from price. During 2018's 82% ETH crash, roughly 77,000 new developers joined the network. During 2022's 68% drop, that number hit about 139,000. In 2025, it reached nearly 140,000 — essentially the same peak. Block production has stabilized near 7,000 blocks per day since around 2023, regardless of where ETH trades. The network is getting built through the downturn, even if the market isn't rewarding it yet.
LiquidChain's Presale Crosses $852K
One project taking advantage of the quieter market is LiquidChain, an L3 infrastructure play. Its presale is live at $0.01471 per LIQUID token, with $852,080.07 raised to date. The project touts a Unified Liquidity Layer, Single-Step Execution, Verifiable Settlement, and a Deploy-Once Architecture — features aimed at reducing friction for developers building across chains.
The next few days will tell the story. If $1,700 holds through the weekly close, the setup for a relief rally exists. If not, the path lower is largely unobstructed. The presale for LiquidChain continues, and the builder data suggests the ecosystem's foundation is stronger than price action alone implies.
