Ethereum L2 Optimism Sees 500% Growth in Active Users Since July

Popular Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution Optimism has seen massive growth over the past three months. The L2’s daily active users (DAU) have surged to around 30,000 in October from August’s low of 4,500, representing a growth of more than 500%. The blockchain has also seen an uptick in the number of its new users and transactions. 

Optimism Use Picks Up Momentum 

Optimism has seen a more than 500% increase in daily users, which is determined by calculating the number of unique addresses that interact with the network, since early July. According to data by a Dune Analytics dashboard that tracks daily Optimism users, the network had around 4,500 users on July 12, which surged to over 30,000 on October 5. 

There has also been a similar increase in the number of new users. Optimism had less than 500 new users on July 11. However, that tally has climbed over the 5,000 mark over the past couple of days, representing a growth of around 900%. 

Part of the surge in existing and new users of Optimism can be attributed to the “Optimism Quests,” which allow users to earn NFTs for understanding well-known applications installed on the L2 solutions, as well as completing related quizzes and tasks. The program started on September 20. 

To further increase the excitement around quest NFTs, Optimism has hinted that users will be able to unlock certain features when they win enough NFTs. “Though to unlock the different traits in [redacted] you will need to hold NFTs from different applications,” the L2 said in the announcement. 

The number of daily transactions on Optimism has also seen an uptick over the past three months. After hitting a low of around 55,000 transactions per day in early July, the L2 registered around 350,000 daily transactions on September 21, according to data by crypto analytics company Nansen.

Furthermore, Optimism has flipped the so-called “Ethereum killer” Avalanche in terms of daily transactions. According to James Ho, co-founder of the crypto investment firm Modular Capital, Optimism recorded a total of 5.2 million transactions in September compared to Avalanche’s 4.8 million. 

Ho added that Optimism and other L2s low fees, as well as a good user experience, have allowed them to compete with EVM blockchains. He said:

“With fees running in the pennies – user experience on Arbitrum, Optimism is indistinguishable vs other cheap EVM chains. Users flock to where the best dapps / ecosystems are built. And that follows talented / smart devs Future is bright for Ethereum.”

Join our Telegram group and never miss a breaking digital asset story.

What is Optimism? 

Optimism is an Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution that helps reduce the transaction fee and time on the Ethereum blockchain by handling transactions off the blockchain. The L2 still uses Ethereum’s mainnet while processing transactions to enjoy its security and decentralization.

Optimism is powered by a technology called Optimistic rollups. Optimistic rollups presume transactions are valid. However, they allow so-called “watchers” to call out fraudulent transactions since blockchain is transparent and public. If a watcher proves instances of fraud, the transaction is reverted, the bad actor penalized, and the watcher is rewarded.

Have you used Optimism to avoid Ethereum’s high fees? Let us know in the comments below.