OP threatens ARB in daily users for the first time as L2 wars for the best Ethereum Layer 2 intensify
- Optimism is edging closer to Arbitrum in daily transactions as the race for the best Ethereum Layer 2 network intensifies.
- As OP popularity increases, experts attribute Optimism’s growth to the OP stack, which users can use to build their own chain.
- The race has become more intense with the recently launched Mantle mainnet, which also uses the OP stack and Worldcoin.
Optimism (OP) is edging closer to Arbitrum (ARB), threatening to match and surpass the latter in daily transactions for the first time. The news comes as the race for the best Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) continues, with Optimism garnering support even from other contenders in the race.
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Optimism gains ground in the L2 race over Arbitrum
Optimism (OP) is nearing Arbitrum in daily transactions, a remarkable achievement considering ARB’s heft in the L2 space. The closing gap makes headlines given the intense L2 wars with networks seeking to become the best Ethereum Layer 2.
Arbitrum is leading the race as of press time, with a stark $4,498,339,298 total value bridge against Optimism’s $2,139,950,442. The real competition is in daily users, where Arbitrum flaunts up to 150,771 daily users against Optimism’s 100,276, marking an intense race.
Optimism has become more popular, with experts attributing the fame to its signature software, OP Stack. This is a standardized, shared, and open-source development stack powering the Optimism network and maintained by the Optimism Collective. Users can leverage the OP stack to build their own chain.
Evidence of this popularity is that Base, a new Ethereum L2 incubated by Coinbase, has been built atop the open-source OP Stack.
Looking for a way to send across Base and Optimism with a single action? Meet Beam by @eco, the first superchain payment wallet. https://t.co/Aklb5KF0fQ
— Base ️ (@BuildOnBase) July 27, 2023
Besides Base, another ecosystem to show faith in Optimism’s OP Stack is Mantle, a modular L2 blockchain designed to help scale Ethereum and drive mass adoption of decentralized technologies.
3/ OP Stack was used by @BuildOnBase (L2 from Coinbase).
— Przemek Chojecki || PC Crypto (@prz_chojecki) July 28, 2023
It was also used by @0xMantle, another contender for a top L2 with the mainnet just launched. pic.twitter.com/BNUsSX2OLL
The launch of Sam Altman’s Worldcoin also boded well for Optimism because the WLD token launched on the Optimism ecosystem.
Other strong contenders in the Ethereum L2 race that rally behind Optimism include zkSync Era, Starknet, and ImmutableX (IMX), having received 449,480,550, 117,620,467, and $106,983,127 of ETH, stablecoin, and altcoins. These translate to significant growth in terms of assets bridged. Starknet has come to the limelight because of the developers’ hard work in fostering the ecosystem, and the nice coding language, Cario, that makes it easier to generate proofs.
Possible reasons why Arbitrum is losing to Optimism
With L2 warming up, Arbitrum is losing momentum, and zkSync is also underperforming. Possible reasons for this include the fading confidence among users because of the recent exploits such as the EraLend reported recently. The lack of a catalyst also harms the traction.
With so much bullish news coming to the Optimism camp and its OP stacks software, it could surpass Arbitrum soon, especially because of the ARB network’s lack of catalyst or any recent notable development.
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Author
Lockridge Okoth
FXStreet
Lockridge is a believer in the transformative power of crypto and the blockchain industry.
