Which L2s led volumes this week?

TLDR

Base, Arbitrum, and ethereum/">Optimism led Ethereum Layer 2 activity this week, with fee tailwinds from Ethereums blob capacity increase supporting rollup throughput and costs.

1. Base continues to lead L2 revenue share per recent analyses of rollup profits. See the review above on rollup profits.
2. Ethereum raised blob capacity this week, stabilizing rollup fees for Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Mantle, zkSync, Starknet, and Scroll. See the network update.
3. Year end coverage puts Arbitrum and Optimism consistently high on TVL and usage among L2s. See the 2025 roundup.

Deep Dive

1. Base Leading

Base appears to be the most consistently dominant L2 by fee capture and usage trends into early January. Multiple market analyses note Bases share of rollup profits leading through late 2025 and into the recent 30 day window, reflecting sustained app and user activity on Coinbases L2. See the discussion above on rollup profits and sequencer concentration.

Opinion: The distribution advantage and lower friction for Coinbase users help Base translate onboarding into activity, even as fees compress across L2s.

2. Fee Tailwinds This Week

Ethereum increased blob capacity on Jan 8, which directly reduces data constraints for rollups and helps stabilize transaction fees as activity grows. That change benefits L2s such as Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, Mantle, zkSync Era, Starknet, and Scroll. See the blob capacity increase.

Opinion: Fee stabilization is a near term tailwind for L2 volumes, especially where DEX and consumer apps are sensitive to cost and latency.

3. Arbitrum and Optimism Retain Depth

Year end reviews place Arbitrum and Optimism among the most durable L2s by TVL and real usage, even as margins compressed from fee wars. They remain core venues for DeFi and consumer activity in the L2 stack. See the 2025 L2 roundup.

Opinion: In weeks with macro or ETF driven noise, depth often concentrates on these two L2s, keeping them near the top of weekly activity metrics.

Conclusion

This weeks setup favors Base first, then Arbitrum and Optimism, with Ethereums blob capacity bump helping rollups sustain lower fees and smoother throughput. The leadership lens here is activity and fee capture rather than token price. If weekly volume charts matter to you, the fastest verification is to check venue specific dashboards for DEX and app flows on these L2s.

Confidence: moderate because chain level weekly L2 volume rankings are sparse in public reports; sources corroborate leadership in usage and revenues.