Ethereum Layer-2 Arbitrum Sees Ongoing ‘Influx’ of New Users After ARB Airdrop: Nansen

Arbitrum, an Ethereum rollup with assets worth $5.77 billion bridged to it, continued to see increased growth last quarter.

The activity comes after a highly anticipated airdrop in March this year.

The layer-2 blockchain witnessed strong activity based on the “consistently higher” transaction count and “influx of new participants,” according to a Nansen report shared with Decrypt.

Notably, the blockchain has supported more activity since the airdrop in March.

The number of new wallets transacting for the first time on the network has surged since the start of the year.

Nansen analysts noted that it “points towards more organic activity” as new users have been increasing, even “surpassing Ethereum on certain days in Q2.”

In contrast, Optimism, which conducted its airdrop on May 31, 2022, didn’t see the same rise in activity following its airdrop.

Like Arbitrum, the Optimism network is a popular layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum. After releasing its OP Stack, a variety of builders have spun up their very own networks including the Coinbase-incubated Base network.

The continued influx of new participants also points to “the resilience and thriving ecosystem that Arbitrum has built,” said Nansen analysts

The launch of Arbitrum Orbit, a permissionless framework for deploying Orbit Chains, or so-called layer-3 chains, atop Arbitrum One or Arbitrum Nova, also appears to have helped boost user activity.

Unpacking Arbitrum Orbit

Launched on June 21, Arbitrum Orbit lets users create their own Arbitrum-based rollup.

Orbit is similar to Optimism’s OP Stack in enabling the creation of new blockchains with its own privacy, permissions, fee token, and governance specifications.

“These solutions collectively aim to offer faster, more cost-effective, and secure transactions, fostering innovation and supporting Ethereum’s growth as a sustainable and scalable blockchain,” said the analysts.

The main difference between the two designs is that Optimism chains are “geared towards the layer-2 market,” whereas Arbitrum’s design is more application-specific.

Nansen analysts added, “By having less congestion on the base layer, removing app-specific transactions to an L3. Arbitrum Orbit might be able to further aggregate transactions and optimize computation, significantly increasing the transaction throughput.”