- zkSync’s Total Value Locked (TVL) has seen a decline even with an uptick in active users.
- Coinbase L2 Base network’s activity has been affected by rising fees on decentralized social network Friend.tech and the surge of Stars Arena on the Avalanche [AVAX] network.
Drawing insights from a tweet by Chris Burniske, the unique daily active addresses on 6 October showed a surprising trend. zkSync led the race with 235,510 addresses, followed by Arbitrum at 155,070 addresses.
Unique Daily Active Addresses
–@zksync: 235.51K
–@arbitrum: 155.07K
–@BuildOnBase: 74.85K
–@optimismFND: 57.99K pic.twitter.com/nNdPRZRYOK— Chris Burniske (@cburniske) October 6, 2023
Meanwhile, Coinbase’s L2 Base secured the third spot with 74,850 addresses, and Optimism recorded 57,990 addresses.
While zkSync boasted the highest active addresses, its Total Value Locked (TVL) tells a different story. TVL is a crucial metric indicating the total assets staked or locked in a decentralized application (dApp), reflecting its perceived trustworthiness. A decreasing TVL indicates rising skepticism regarding the protocol’s use. At the moment, zkSync’s TVL has dipped to $120.47 million. Such a decline may be attributed to platforms like SyncSwap and Mute.io’s inability to pull sufficient liquidity into the zkSync ecosystem.
Shifting Loyalties: The Base and Stars Arena Scenario
Base, operating under the Coinbase L2 scaling solution, recently faced a potential reason for its declining activity: Friend.tech. Operating on the Base network, Friend.tech experienced a surge in fees and TVL over the past weeks. However, Stars Arena, a similar platform but on the Avalanche [AVAX] network, seems to have grabbed some of Friend.tech’s spotlight. This transition likely impacted Base’s overall network activity.
Arbitrum might have surpassed Base in active addresses, but its network growth – indicating new daily addresses – doesn’t stir excitement. With a mere growth of 940, user adoption over time appears to be on the slower side. Optimism faces a similar challenge, recording a reduced network growth of 738, suggesting that traction on its mainnet is not particularly stellar.
Base’s Revenue Struggles Despite Network Gains
Even with a dip in active users, Base’s weekly revenues struggled to cover operational costs. Data from Dune Analytics revealed a weekly revenue of $155,532 for Base. After accounting for operational expenses of $75,921, the profit stood at a modest $79,611. Although the network witnessed some gains, the profit doesn’t paint an optimistic picture, especially when juxtaposed against previous weeks’ performance. For Base to revisit its past outstanding performances, there’s a clear need to boost activity on its network.
