More than 623,000 new users transferred their assets using bridges in March, according to data from the blockchain analytics platform Nansen. This represents a 530% increase from the previous month and the highest level recorded in the past 15 months. This marks an all-time high in the past 15 months, according to data from Nansen Query.
📈 623,000+ new users* bridged their assets in March, a whopping 530% surge from the previous month
— Nansen 🧭 (@nansen_ai) April 12, 2023
zkSync and Starknet are leading the charge, with users eagerly awaiting a potential airdrop 👀
*This #NansenQuery chart shows bridge use by first-time users/addresses only pic.twitter.com/OzleA9REBo
The platform shared that this surge is mainly due to the popularity of zkSync and Starknet, as many users are excited about the possibility of an airdrop. A chart provided by Nansen Query shows that the number of new bridge users has been steadily increasing since January 2022.
Data indicates that zkSync and StarkWare’s StarkGate ETH Bridge were the most popular bridges among the new users. The other bridges that saw significant adoption were Arbitrum’s Inbox, Polygon’s Zk EVM Bridge Proxy, Layer Zero’s Aptos Bridge, Polygon’s PoS ETH Bridge, and Rhino.fi’s StarkEx Proxy.
Other bridges gaining popularity include Optimism’s Gateway, Synapse’s L1 Bridge Zap, Orbiter Finance’s StarkNet Bridge, Hop Protocol’s ETH L1 Bridge, Sorare’s Bridge Proxy, Polygon’s Plasma Bridge, Celer’s cBridge V2, Immutable X’s Bridge, Across Protocol’s Ethereum Spoke Pool, Wormhole’s Token Bridge, Optimism’s Teleportr Deposit, and Loopring’s ExchangeV3.
The data reflect the widening adoption of blockchain technology and the increasing interest in bridging assets across different blockchain networks. The popularity of bridges like zkSync and StarkWare’s StarkGate ETH Bridge highlights the importance of layer-2 scaling solutions for blockchain networks.
Furthermore, Nansen noted that over 92% of users who have bridged their assets to zkSync have done so for amounts less than $1,000. Therefore, if a user has bridged more than $1,000 to zkSync, they belong to the top 8% of users in terms of the transaction value. This suggests that while there is growing interest in bridging assets, most users are experimenting with smaller amounts.