Ethereum layer-2 on-chain activity has been increasing to the extent that the leading two networks now process more transaction volume than mainnet Ethereum.
Layer-2 networks Arbitrum and Optimism have seen an increase in transactions over the past three months. Comparatively, aside from a few spikes, transactions on the Ethereum network have declined by around 33% since late October, according to Etherscan.
This has enabled the two L2s combined to flip Ethereum for this metric, according to Dune Analytics data.
The chart shows Ethereum processed over 1.06 million transactions on Jan. 10, whereas Arbitrum and Optimism combined processed over 1.12 million transactions.
Additionally, Optimism has now surpassed Arbitrum in terms of daily transactions following a steady uptrend in activity since September.
Layer-2 ecosystem analytics website L2beat reported all L2 activity in terms of transactions per second (TPS) surpassed that of Ethereum in October, and has remained above it since.
On Jan. 10, Ethereum processed an average of around 12 TPS, compared to the L2’s average of nearly 16.5 TPS.
Arbitrum and Optimism combined represent almost 80% of the entire layer-2 ecosystem, according to L2beat.
Arbitrum One remains the market leader in terms of total value locked (TVL) with around $2.34 billion in collateral, giving it a 52.5% market share.
Optimism is in second place with a TVL of $1.28 billion and a 28.6% market share.
According to Nansen researcher Martin Lee, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols are one of the key drivers of the adoption of the Optimism chain.
Related: Can the Optimism blockchain win the battle of the rollups?
Other layer twos such as zk-rollup StarkNet have also been processing more transactions recently. StarkWare technology also powers other solutions including ImmutableX and dYdX.
In October, it was reported StarkNet was processing more transactions per week than the Bitcoin (BTC) network.
Additionally, Starkscan reports the network is at an all-time high in terms of TVL at $5.2 million.