Which L2s saw usage growth?

TLDR

Arbitrum (ARB) and Base show the clearest usage growth this week based on activity and TVL, while ethereum/">Optimism (OP) contracted; Ethereums upgrades lowered L2 settlement costs and boosted throughput.

1. Arbitrum (ARB): largest L2 by value secured with rising activity milestones per a recent report.
2. Base: strongest TVL growth among L2s in 2025 according to an end?year analysis.
3. Optimism (OP): TVL fell materially as capital rotated to peers, per an industry update.

Deep Dive

1. Arbitrum Scale

Arbitrum reported crossing $20 billion in total value secured and 2.1 billion lifetime transactions, reinforcing its lead on rollup market share and sustained usage growth.

• The developer behind Arbitrum highlighted these milestones as the network doubles down on ecosystem buildout, underscoring scale and activity trends in DeFi and applications on Arbitrum One, per a report.
• Comparative data in the same coverage points to Arbitrum outpacing Optimism and Base on value secured, even as application activity rises across competitors, per the report above.

2. Base TVL Growth

Base posted the strongest TVL growth among L2s in 2025, helped by distribution and onboarding advantages, pointing to expanding user and app activity.

• A year?end review found Base led L2 TVL growth while other L2s, notably Optimism, saw contraction as capital rotated, per an analysis.
• A separate industry summary echoed the same pattern: Base up on TVL, Optimism down, with Arbitrum and Polygon also pressured at points, per a related update.

3. L2 Settlement Cost Tailwind

Ethereums 2025 upgrades increased blob capacity and lowered L2 settlement costs, enabling higher throughput and cheaper data for rollups.

• The Pectra upgrade doubled blobs per block (from 3 to 6), reducing settlement costs for L2s and supporting record L1 throughput without fee spikes, per a technical update.
• These improvements made it easier for rollups like Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base to scale activity while keeping end?user costs manageable, per the update above.

Conclusion

Usage growth concentrates in Arbitrum and Base, while Optimism shows a near?term contraction. Ethereums capacity upgrades are a tailwind for rollups, making higher L2 activity more feasible. Practical takeaway: measure adoption through TVL, transactions, and active addresses by venue; price performance may lag or diverge from usage.