Optimism’s Superchain TVL and Base’s user growth

Optimism says the Superchain aggregate total value locked is above $14 billion. This figure combines multiple OP Stack networks instead of just OP Mainnet. The ecosystem includes Base, World Chain, Mode, Zora, and Sonic. Base reached 1.05 million daily active addresses on August 24. This number is a 60% increase in daily active addresses since the beginning of August. The user surge happened after the August 21 launch of the basenames service. Over 200,000 basenames were minted in the first week of that service. Base also reached 4 million weekly active addresses on August 20 during the Onchain Summer campaign. Base accounts for 9.25% of the total decentralized exchange volume on the Ethereum network, which is a massive jump from the 2.81% share it held back in March. Base holds more daily active addresses than Arbitrum, which reports 394,000 daily active addresses. Base daily active addresses fell slightly to 1.03 million as of the latest data.

The competition between Layer 2 networks depends on technical stacks and user distribution. Base uses the OP Stack, while Arbitrum uses the Nitro stack.

Transaction costs on September 15 were $0.0015 on Base and $0.0053 on Arbitrum. You should check the specific transaction costs before you move your funds. Arbitrum has a larger absolute TVL. A snapshot from August 29 shows Arbitrum TVL at $11.66 billion. Optimism’s OP Mainnet typically stays between $700 million and $1 billion. Arbitrum provides deep liquidity for power users through its Nitro and Stylus technology. Arbitrum also allows projects to launch customized chains through Arbitrum Orbit. Zora is another major chain in the Superchain that focuses on culture and has more than 828,000 addresses that collect NFTs. Arbitrum Nitro uses custom WASM-based fraud proofs to manage its execution. Optimism uses Cannon fault proofs and MIPS for its own framework. Arbitrum hosts major applications like GMX, Camelot, Pendle, and Radiant.

Base captures retail users through Coinbase integration. It led the market in weekly active addresses with 4 million users on August 20. Arbitrum maintains its position as the DeFi hub for power users. It hosts major protocols like GMX, Uniswap, Pendle, and Radiant. The market has not yet found a durable mechanism connecting Arbitrum’s network usage to ARB demand. The ARB price is up 28.18% in 24 hours, but it remains far below its prior high. Optimism’s OP price is $0.1383 on September 25. Base and Arbitrum together represent over 75% of total value secured across all L2s. According to 21Shares, networks like Base and Arbitrum process nearly 90% of all L2 transactions. Base handles over 60% of all L2 transactions. The decline of smaller rollups happened because of fee wars after the Dencun upgrade. This upgrade reduced data posting costs by 90%, which stripped many chains of their pricing power. Base was the only L2 that turned a profit because its Coinbase distribution advantage was so high. The winner is clearly the ecosystem that controls the most distribution channels. Will the Superchain maintain this momentum as other exchange-backed chains enter the market? Concentrate your DeFi activity on the dominant chains.