Daily active users and transaction count on Arbitrum has increased post airdrop Daily active users and transaction count on Arbitrum has increased post airdrop
Arbitrum's user and transaction count has been rivaling that of Ethereum's, often flipping the second-largest blockchain.
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Updated: Jun. 15, 2023 at 7:09 am UTC
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In the weeks after the ARB airdrop, unique users and transaction counts on Arbitrum have remained high on average compared to pre-airdrop levels, Nansen data shows.
Arbitrum airdropped its ARB token on March 23, which pushed its transaction count to an all-time high. A day later, the number of new users on the network reached a record high.
The number of new users on Arbitrum has been slowly declining from its all-time high but remains above Optimism, data indicates. In fact, Abritrum has been competing with Ethereum, often flipping the second-largest blockchain in terms of users and transaction numbers.
The activity of Arbitrum airdrop recipients declined sharply after the airdrop, just like it did after the Optimism airdrop. ARB airdrop recipients accounted for 5% to 20% of transactions on Arbitrum before March 2023, according to Nansen data. However, after the airdrop, the recipients account for only 5% of the transactions on the network. In the case of Optimism, airdrop recipients went from representing 30% to 65% of the transactions to 6% at present.
Additionally, the amount of gas spent on Arbitrum has been increasing, indicating growing usage of the blockchain. According to Nansen data, 17,000 Ethereum (ETH) worth $29.6 million was spent on transaction fees on Arbitrum over the past 6 months. Around 71% of these fees were generated for Ethereum.
The number of Ethereum transactions bridging to Arbitrum peaked during the airdrop in March. After Polygon, Arbitrum remains the most popular layer 2 for bridging from Ethereum, according to Nansen data. However, smaller players like Starkware, zkSync, PulseChain, and Across have increasingly gained market share between March and May 2023, the Nansen report noted.
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Monika Ghosh
In 2020, Monika immersed herself in crypto, maintaining skepticism yet firmly believing blockchain could address key issues like financial disparity and transparency. A book-lover, she's also a passionate food enthusiast.
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Jacob Oliver
Jacob Oliver is a recovering academic and English teacher turned crypto journalist and web3 writer. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Washington.
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