Ethereum Layer 2 Throughput Hits Record High

Activity across Layer 2 networks is booming, with combined L2 throughput outpacing the Ethereum mainnet by 400%.

The weekly average scaling throughput of Ethereum’s Layer 2 ecosystem surpassed 50 transactions per second (TPS) for the first time on Aug 15, hitting an all-time high of 50.83 TPS two days later, according to L2beat.

The milestone comes as zkSync Era has overtaken the Ethereum mainnet, with daily activity sitting at 12.2 TPS compared to 10.9 TPSfor Ethereum. Era processed a record high 13.44 TPS on Aug. 19.

Emerging Layer 2 Networks

A new breed of L2s is challenging the dominance of incumbents Arbitrum and Optimism.

Base, the freshly launched L2 from the top U.S. exchange, Coinbase, is the second-most active layer 2 with 9.93 TPS after growing 50% over the past week. Activity on Base has been buoyed by the surging popularity of friend.tech, an app allowing users to trade tokens associated with public Twitter profiles.

Arbitrum ranks third with 6.2 TPS, followed by Starknet with 4.8 TPS, and Optimism with 4.2 TPS.

However, Arbitrum and Optimism still command more than 80% of the nearly $10B in total value locked in Layer 2s, with $5.6B and $2.6B, respectively. zkSync comes in third with $408M, followed by dYdX with $339M, and Base with $237M.

Arbitrum Grants Program

Facing new competition, the Arbitrum Foundation responded by launching its first grants program last month. The foundation said the new initiative is not intended to replace the grants programs operated by the Arbitrum DAO.

The first round of Foundation Grants will distribute funding to “decentralized applications and infrastructure” for both its flagship Arbitrum One and gaming-focused Arbitrum Nova networks. The categories include DeFi, gaming, NFT, social dApps, or user interface tooling and backend application infrastructure.

The foundation will progressively distribute funding based on key performance indicators and other milestones arranged with each applicant individually.

“All grants issued through this program will serve to improve adoption, create stronger technical structures, and build amazing sustainable communities,” said the Arbitrum Foundation.