On the 27th of July, the Layer 2 (L2) blockchain platform, Optimism, saw a noticeable surge in daily transactions, surpassing its close competitor, Arbitrum, for the first time since the turn of the year. Notable data from a trusted blockchain analytics firm, Blockscan, showcased this significant event.
A Brief on Optimism’s Rise
OP’s sudden rise in network activity can be largely attributed to the introduction of Worldcoin, a novel cryptocurrency project endeavoring to tackle issues like income disparity and digital identity verification. This project was initiated by Sam Altman, the chief executive officer of OpenAI.
Earlier on the 11th of May, Worldcoin made a strategic move by announcing its plan to shift the launch of its World App from the formerly chosen Polygon Network to Optimism.
The Impact of Worldcoin on OP
As of the 27th of July, the daily transactions on OP reached an impressive figure of 944,000, while Arbitrum recorded a comparatively lower count of 660,000 on the same day.
Subsequent to the launch of Worldcoin, Optimism saw an increase in its daily active addresses, as data from Artemis indicated. Since the project’s inception on OP’s main-net on the 24th of July, there has been a 22% rise in daily active addresses. On the other hand, Arbitrum also saw an increase in unique addresses but at a relatively slow pace, with a mere 2% rise during the same period.
The attention garnered by the L2 network has also led to an increase in the total value of assets locked (TVL) in Optimism’s decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Data from Artemis shows a 4% increase in Optimism’s TVL since the launch of Worldcoin five days prior.
Over a span of seven days, Optimism’s TVL saw a significant increase of 15%, whereas Arbitrum experienced a 3% decrease during the same period.
Despite this, Arbitrum still holds the position of the L2 solution with the highest TVL of $5.98 billion, accounting for over 55% of the total L2 market share, as per data from L2Beat. Optimism follows suit with a TVL of $2.9 billion.
