Dear Frens,

The L2 ecosystem is never short of news, updates, and upgrades; as you know, this is the place to learn and stay apprised of developments as they happen.

On July 2, ZKSync unveiled the Elastic Chain — ZKSync 3.0 protocol upgrade. This upgrade allows for the creation of a network of interoperable ZK chains, built on the ZK Stack — more like the ZK version of Optimism’s Superchain and Arbitrum’s Orbit. Lens Protocol is planning for its official mainnet launch on ZKSync, set to take place in the final quarter of 2024, according to reports from BSCN.

On September 4, the long-awaited upgrade from MATIC to POL will commence on the Polygon PoS network. POL will replace MATIC as the native gas and staking token on the PoS network. DeFi protocols and dApps on Polygon PoS, Ethereum, and zkEVM will update their infrastructure to support the POL token. Stakers and delegators of MATIC on Ethereum, who secure the Polygon PoS network, will have their MATIC automatically converted to POL.

In this issue’s editorial, we take a dive into Ethereum’s layer 2 ocean to observe the whales dominating the scene. There's more as you scroll, so relax and enjoy the world of Ethereum’s L2s.

Contributors: Lucent, Melasin, Tonytad, Boluwatife, Kornekt, WinVerse

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🗞️ Ecosystem Updates

⛓️ Optimism Retro Funding 4 results are out.

🆕 Introducing the Superchain Identity.

🔀 MODE is Now an Omnichain Asset!

➿ Arbitrum (Re)delegation Week is on.

⚡Huddle01 dRTC Unveils its L3 on Arbitrum.

⭕ RISC Zero is now live on Arbitrum.

🏁 Arbitrum Foundation supports the Launch of the first DeSci Chain, Now Live on Testnet.

🔥 Hot News

BNB Chain Unveils New Layer 2 Solution to Boost Scalability

In a notable move to address scalability challenges, BNB Chain has announced the launch of opBNB, a new layer 2 scaling solution. This development marks a major step forward in BNB Chain's efforts to enhance its blockchain network's performance and user experience.

opBNB, currently in testnet phase, is built on the Optimism OP Stack and promises to deliver improved security and scalability. The new layer 2 chain boasts impressive capabilities, including support for over 4,000 transfer transactions per second at a remarkably low cost of less than $0.005 per transaction.

Key features of opBNB include:

1. Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility

2. Optimized data accessibility and caching

3. Increased gas limit of 100 million per block

4. Simplified integration process through RPC service layer

This new product is expected to significantly enhance BNB Chain's position in the competitive blockchain landscape. While this is cause for excitement, many are still skeptical about the way this innovation was introduced and are looking to events that will happen in coming weeks to help determine how to proceed.

For more information about this development, check out the full article.

🏛 Governance

💬 Proposals in Discussion

Arbitrum

• Jumpstart fund for DAO improvement

• (Re)delegation Week Kick-Off and Agenda

Optimism

• Tribuni Alpha Launch: Telegram Mini-app Built by Delegates for Delegates

Polygon

• MATIC → POL: Migration Coming September 4th

• Thrive Polygon Update: June 11th to July 15th

• Council Transparency Report: PIP 26 & 40

Starknet

• Cairo v2.7.0 is coming!

• SNIP 18: Staking’s First Stage on Starknet

Ethereum’s Layer 2 Whales

Author: Lucent

Since Arbitrum and Optimism pioneered the rollup race in 2021, dozens of other networks have sprung up, employing different approaches to scale Ethereum. Today, according to L2BEAT, there are 63 active layer 2 networks and 80 others in the works. Together, they have a TVL of about $44 billion. The top five networks account for a very large chunk of this TVL, holding over 80% of the entire value. Safe to say, they are the whales of Ethereum L2.

In this article, we’ll be giving you a quick breakdown of these top layer 2 networks, highlighting their features, projects under them, and more. Let’s get into it..

Top Five Ethereum Layer 2 Networks by TVL

#5 Mantle

#5 on the list is Mantle, with a TVL of $1.37B as of the time of writing. Mantle was launched in July 2023 as a network aiming to drive mass adoption of decentralized and token-governed technologies. The network recorded 797k active addresses in the past month with a transaction count of 13.59M. Mantle takes an interconnected approach, separating transaction execution, consensus, settlement, and data availability into distinct layers.

An important property of the Mantle ecosystem is its strong financial backing and incentive programs. One of which is the $200 Million EcoFund, catalyzed by 100 million USDC from BitDAO's treasury, to invest in native applications and technology partners building on the Mantle network. They also provide a combined allowance of $300 million in USDx, ETH, BTC, and MNT to support ecosystem growth and partnerships through liquidity support for applications. This liquidity support helps attract and retain projects building on Mantle.

To mark its first year anniversary, Mantle is doing a commemorative NFT mint which is still ongoing. Get to know more about it in this X post.

#4 Blast

Blast L2 is an Optimistic rollup that offers native yield generation for Ether (ETH) and stablecoins. This means that users can earn yields on their ETH and stablecoin holdings directly on the Blast L2 network, without the need for separate staking or yield farming protocols. The network has a TVL of $2.65 Billion, with over 860k active addresses in the past month and 20.89M in transaction count.

By sharing gas revenue with dApp developers, Blast gives developers the flexibility to either keep the gas revenue for themselves or use it to subsidize gas fees for their users. The Blast airdrop snapshot and token distribution took place on June 26, 2024, with users having to claim the airdrop within 30 days.

Apart from the remarkable airdrop, users on Blast can now bridge between Blast and Ethereum Mainnet in just seven days, which is twice as fast as before —14 days. Projects like Orbit Protocol, a DeFi platform offering lending, borrowing, and trading functionalities, and KAP Games are top platforms on the network.

#3 Optimism

Optimism mainnet went live in December 2021. It is now the third largest L2 solution in the Ethereum ecosystem with a TVL of $6.77B. Active addresses in the past month tally at 1.79M with a transaction count of 14.21M. The Optimism Foundation is not just building a rollup but an ecosystem of interconnected L2 networks that they call the Superchain.

A portion of Optimism's transaction fees are directed to the Retroactive Public Goods Funding (RetroPGF) program, which rewards projects that provide value to the Optimism ecosystem. The Optimism Retroactive Public Goods Funding (Retro Funding) program was launched in 2023. The first round of Retro Funding opened for applications in January 2023 and since then, Optimism has allocated 850M OP tokens (20% of the initial token supply) to fund the Retro Funding program. In the first three rounds, a total of 30 million OP tokens have been distributed to contributors. The RPGF is in its fourth round and you can read more about it here.

Some top projects running on Optimism include Aave V3, Synthetic, and Velodrome. To know more and get started on Optimism, follow the steps outlined on the network's official website.

#2 Base

Launched in 2023 by Coinbase, Base has experienced dramatic growth in just a short time. The network has outpaced the competition to become the second-largest rollup with a current TVL of $7.27B. The network had 9.55M active addresses in the past month with a transaction count of 94.12M.

Designed to be a highly secure and decentralized L2 solution, Base leverages Optimism's OP Stack, which includes advanced features like fraud proofs and state commitments, to ensure robust security. The network is also a major stakeholder in Optimism’s Superchain initiative. Some DeFi projects and gaming platforms like Aave, Synthetix, Immutable X and Uniswap are top projects on Base. To get started on Base, follow the steps outlined here.

#1 Arbitrum

Arbitrum is the elephant in the room of Ethereum rollups. The network seats comfortably at the top spot holding about 40% of the entire layer 2 market share. In the past 30 days, 7.15M active addresses interacted with the network with a transaction count of 62.13M.

Like Optimism, Arbitrum is also building an ecosystem of permissionless chains, they call it the Arbitrum Orbit. Many well-known DeFi platforms use Arbitrum One, such as Uniswap, Aave, Ankr, and OpenSea.

In addition to Arbitrum One, Arbitrum launched Arbitrum Nova in August 2022. Nova is a new chain built with AnyTrust technology and is designed to scale the Ethereum blockchain even further. Arbitrum Nova reduces costs even further and is one of the most cost-efficient blockchains today. The chain focuses primarily on high-throughput dApps, making it suitable for gaming-focused apps, as well as NFTs, tools, nodes, and bridges.

To get started on Arbitrum, follow the steps outlined on the Arbitrum website.

📈 Data

Total Value Locked on L2s surges past $40 billion!

Top Ten Projects by Total Value Locked:

🔭 Project Watch

Arbitrum

Top Projects by TVL in the Last 7 Days

Optimism

Top Projects by TVL in the Last 7 Days

zkSync

Top Projects by TVL in the Last 7 Days

zkEVM

Top Projects by TVL in the Last 7 Days