“This Layer 2 Is Growing Faster Than Arbitrum — What’s Going On?”
While Arbitrum remains the dominant Layer 2 by TVL, a surprising contender is now outpacing it in daily active users and transaction volume — and it’s not Optimism or Polygon. It’s Base, Coinbase’s Layer 2 built on the OP Stack.
Here’s what’s driving Base’s explosive growth:
- 1.6M+ daily active wallets, surpassing Arbitrum’s 487K
- $1.89B in daily transaction volume, compared to Arbitrum’s $1B
- Seamless integration with Coinbase Wallet and Exchange, onboarding millions of retail users
- Popular apps like Friend.tech and BasePaint fueling social + DeFi engagement
- Institutional trust due to Coinbase’s compliance-first infrastructure
While Arbitrum still leads in DeFi depth and governance, Base is winning the retail adoption race — and that could reshape the Layer 2 landscape heading into August.
