TL;DR
- Activity on Ethereum scaling solutions has dropped, while Coinbase’s Base network continues to rise.
- The combined throughput of Ethereum’s Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks dropped to its lowest level since June.
- Arbitrum and Linea have experienced significant declines in active users, with drops of 62% and 87%, respectively.
Adoption of Ethereum scaling solutions is facing a significant decline, despite the steady growth of Coinbase’s Base network.
Recently, it was revealed that the combined throughput of Ethereum’s Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks has dropped to its lowest point since June, processing an average of just 254.5 transactions per second (TPS) over a 24-hour period.
This figure represents an alarming 73% drop from the record high of 440.4 TPS reached on August 20, indicating a clear disinterest from users in scaling solutions.
In a more specific analysis, when considering only Layer 2 rollups, Ethereum’s L2 sector reported a throughput of 101.8 TPS, marking a 33.5% decrease compared to 153.2 TPS on September 11.
Despite this negative trend, the Base network continues to gain traction, setting a new record with over 66 TPS in daily transactions on October 4 and reaching almost 1.52 million active addresses.
This contradiction between the widespread decline of L2 and the growth of Base raises questions about the sustainability of current scaling solutions.
Performance of Arbitrum and Linea on the Ethereum network
The situation is particularly serious for Arbitrum and Linea, two of the main L2 platforms.
Linea has seen a devastating 87% decline in the number of active users since its all-time high in July, now with fewer than 100,000 active wallets.
Its throughput has dropped to just 2.58 TPS, a staggering 95.3% down from 55.7 TPS on March 31.
Arbitrum, meanwhile, has also seen a significant decline, with 429,000 active users, down 62% from its peak of 1.13 million in May.
Furthermore, transaction counts have dropped 35.7% since their peak in June, demonstrating a worrying trend in the use of these platforms.
Despite these declines, the Arbitrum ecosystem is showing mixed performance on its Layer 3, where some applications have maintained increasing transaction volumes.
For example, Xai has reported a throughput of 66.6 TPS, although this represents a decrease of more than half from its peak in July.
However, Xai’s 30-day transaction count has increased by 8.29%, reaching approximately 201 million.
The overall picture is one of uncertainty, as the growing adoption of Base calls into question the future viability of other Ethereum scaling solutions.
With the clear divergence in activity between Base and other L2 platforms, it is essential for developers and investors to reconsider their strategies in this evolving ecosystem.
While Base continues to set records, the decline in activity at Arbitrum and Linea could herald a shift in market preferences toward new, more effective and adaptive solutions.
The cryptocurrency industry is constantly changing, and only time will tell if these trends become established or if there is a return to interest in traditional scaling solutions.