Ethereum Layer-2 Networks Handle Unprecedented 12.4 Million Daily Transactions

Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling ecosystem achieved a significant milestone by processing a new daily transaction record of 12.42 million on August 12, 2024. This remarkable surge, as reported by the analytics platform Growthepie, represents a substantial 140% increase in daily transactions since the beginning of the year.

The growth in activity can be largely attributed to the Coinbase-developed layer-2 blockchain, Base, which experienced a surge in transactions to over 4 million daily in late July. On the record-breaking day of August 12, Base processed more than 3.6 million transactions, surpassing other layer-2 networks like Arbitrum One, which handled 1.39 million transactions on the same day.

Base’s exceptional growth is evident in the data from Basescan, which reported a remarkable 700% increase in daily transactions over the past six months. This growth has been fueled, in part, by the appeal of memecoins on the network, with token creators attracted to Base and other layer-2 networks for their cost-effectiveness and higher transaction throughput compared to the Ethereum mainnet.

Beyond transaction volumes, layer-2 networks have now accumulated more stablecoins than Solana and Binance Chain combined. Specifically, these networks hold 150% more stablecoins than Solana and 94% more than Binance Smart Chain. In terms of Total Value Locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, Base currently ranks second among layer-2 networks with approximately $6.35 billion locked.

While Base trails behind Arbitrum One, which leads with over $15 billion in TVL, Base’s TVL saw a 3% increase in the 24 hours leading up to August 13. This growth in layer-2 activity coincides with relatively stable transaction volumes on Ethereum’s mainnet, which have hovered around 1.1 million daily transactions for most of 2024, according to Etherscan data.

The increased activity on layer-2 networks has also led to lower gas fees on the Ethereum mainnet, enabling more efficient operations. For instance, stablecoin issuer Tether was able to mint 1 billion USDT for just 53 cents on August 13. Looking at longer-term trends, Base has been one of the most active blockchains in the past month, facilitating over 111 million transactions, second only to Xai, which processed nearly 300 million transactions in the same period.

The meme coin sector on Base has also seen notable activity, with the market cap for Base meme coins surpassing $1.2 million as of August 13. Tokens like Brett (BRETT) and Toshi (TOSHI) recorded gains of 3% and 4%, respectively, over the previous 24 hours.