Ethereum Layer 2 options have witnessed an enormous acquire in traction and utility in 2021-22. TVL throughout L2 platforms went up by 130% (in ETH phrases) for the reason that starting of this 12 months. However two principal platforms stood on the very entrance of this L2 leg race- Arbitrum and Optimism.
Nevertheless, there could be a priority connected to one of many L2 giants that got here proper amidst the unprecedented surge.
Up and down, we go
Given the L2 demand at press time, Arbitrum/Optimism stood at ~30% of ETH each day transactions on the time of writing. The truth is, the mixed TVL stat right here registered ~10% of ETH with August showcasing an 8.1% surge on the TVL proportion statistics.

Supply: Twitter
Firstly, Optimism’s launch of the liquidity mining program ( OP rewards) for Aave customers aided the stated demand. Because the arrival of the OP rewards, customers in early August managed to double Optimism’s TVL from $600 million to nearly $1.2 billion.
Optimism’s token (worth) too witnessed a worth hike. At press time, OP surged by 6% on CoinMarketCap because it traded across the $1.15 mark.

Supply: CoinMarketCap
However was the expansion pure or natural?
Messari analysts offered some proof to showcase the inorganic development right here. Optimism’s transacting addresses grew sharply from ecosystem incentives however fell off in latest weeks.

Supply: Messari
Although, Optimism’s transacting deal with witnessed some development, the platform wasn’t in a position to maintain the hike.
The one approach is up
Alternatively, Arbitrum managed constant lively person metrics with out providing any incentives for community utilization. Blockchain analytics platform Nansen reported on the large enhance in community exercise on Arbitrum.
Utilized by 106k distinctive addresses and over 306k such addresses as per the earlier report.
On the similar time, don’t neglect the most important improve scheduled on 31 August.
Effectively, Ethereum layer-2 scaling resolution Arbitrum would bear one among its most vital upgrades. It might enhance transaction throughput, slash transaction charges and simplify cross-chain communication between Arbitrum and Ethereum.
In keeping with decentralized finance aggregator DeFiLlama, Arbitrum registered a $936 million complete worth locked (TVL) on the community unfold throughout 111 totally different protocols. GMX, Stargate, Curve, and Uniswap are among the many most popular applications.