Layer 2 Weekly Roundup #86
Welcome to the latest edition of the Layer 2 Weekly Roundup.
Every week, this newsletter covers the latest and most important updates from across Ethereum’s Layer 2 ecosystem.
Catch up on the previous edition HERE
Protocol Updates
@arbitrum - BoLD is now live — making Arbitrum more secure and decentralized than ever, and the first to allow fully permissionless validation, bringing Arbitrum one step closer to Stage 2 Decentralization.
@unichain - Unichain mainnet is live. You can now deploy DeFi apps, launch tokens, swap, provide liquidity, and more
@Starknet - The new version of Starknet’s canonical bridge is live — more refined, more intuitive, and built for an improved UX.
@Scroll_ZKP - Scroll have officially launched the ‘Security Council’, a decentralized governance body responsible for overseeing protocol upgrades, emergency responses, and other decisions that affect the Scroll ecosystem.
@NethermindSec - The Formal Verification team at Nethermind Security have formally verified the honesty of ZKsync’s on‑chain zk verifier using EasyCrypt. This is the first time formal verification has been applied to a real-world zk verifier.
@fuel_network - Running a Fuel Sequencer validator or node is now permissionless. Node operation is intentionally accessible with modest hardware requirements to encourage a diverse, decentralized validator set.
Ecosystem Highlights
@VaultCraft_io - VaultCraft expands to Base. Their institutional-grade DeFi infrastructure evolves further, combining Safe’s best-in-class security and management with tokenized yield on Base.
@nansen_ai - You can now participate in Starknet’s road to decentralization with Nansen — stake your $STRK on Nansen, earn rewards, and stack Nansen Points.
@OnchainKit - Wallet Island just leveled up on mobile, keeping users hooked with seamless onboarding, effortless onramp, quick swaps, and real-time token balances—all within your app.
@quickintel_ai - Optimism Superchain support is live on Quick Intel. Optimism Superchain projects now have dedicated detection for bridge-triggered minting, giving users clearer insights into token behavior.
@liquid_col - Liquid Collective is now live on Base, with bridging powered by Chainlink CCIP. This marks a big step toward their goal to offer accessible, secure liquid staking across multiple chains and platforms.
@Balancer - Balancer v3 is now live on Base. v3 enhances customizable AMM development, provides stable pool peg protection, introduces capital-efficient Boosted Pools, and channels MEV profits directly to LPs for real yield.
@Gaianet_AI - Gaia’s Testnet is live on Base, bringing staking, mining, and domains onchain.
@azuroprotocol - Azuro is live on Base, providing the infrastructure and tools that allows anyone to build feature-rich prediction dApps, integrations, permissionlessly, and with zero upfront costs.
@StraitsX - XSGD is live on Arbitrum — enjoy faster transactions, lower fees, and seamless DeFi integration with one of the top Layer 2 networks.
@OnchainKit - Introducing Earn — the sleekest way to integrate yield into your app. Deposit, withdraw, and earn yield on USDC and other tokens — all in one.
@PushChain - Scroll will be launching on PushChain to make Scroll’s apps accessible to everyone, regardless of which chain they are on.
@tevaera - Tevaera are unlocking the onchain gaming economy on Base with a new Tevaera protocols and games launching in Q1, 2025.
@BleapApp - Introducing Bleap Earn — Earn on USD and EUR stablecoins, and send fiat to DeFi in under 10 seconds.
@PerionDAO - PerionXP is moving onchain with Base — bringing traditional gamers onchain with a gamified AAA Questing Layer built on-top of the world's biggest games.
@Gambit_fi - Gambit Finance v2 is live, bringing a revamped UI for seamless trading, increased compound buybacks and fee reduction to the trading platform.
@summerfinance_ - Lazy Summer Protocol is now live on Base. Lazy Summer Protocol automates yield optimization using A1-powered strategies, so anyone can earn more while doing less.
@ReactorDEX - Reactor — a concentrated liquidity DEX — is now building on Fuel.
@garden_finance - Garden is live on Base — bringing one-click BTC <> cbBTC/USDC swaps. Fast. Cheap. Trustless.
@layerswap - Layerswap now supports USDC & USDT transfers to and from Fuel.
Articles and Threads
@reet_batra - Dive into this Starknet tutorial, that provides a solid foundation for building full-stack dApps on Starknet.
@EspressoSys - Walk through how Espresso and CIRC could make bridging native ARB between Arbitrum Orbit L3s possible in ~20 seconds.
@ceciliaz030 - Dive deeper into preconfirmations in this article by Ceciliaz_.
Media - Spaces and Podcasts
@Optimism - Optimism co-hosted an Space on all things Futarchy — diving into what it means, what it can do for crypto, and how they plan to experiments with it.
@arbitrum - Arbitrum celebrates BoLD protocol going live on Arbitrum One — the latest proving protocol for Arbitrum chains and the first to allow fully permissionless validaiton.
@BanklessHQ - Paul Frambot from Morpho Labs and Will Robinson from Coinbase, dive deep into how their partnership, and integration of Bitcoin backed loans, represents the perfect embodiment of the "DeFi mullet’.
@OffchainLabs - Offchain Labs co-founders Steven Goldfeder and Ed Felten, and Product Manager Pibblez, spoke about the Universal Intents Engine, and how they are bringing Ethereum-wide interoperability.
@Scroll_ZKP - Scroll hosted a hands-on workshop on setting up Reown’s AppKit for seamless wallet interactions on Scroll.
@AragonProject - Dive into Aragon’s custom governance build for Taiko, their decentralization plans, and road to mainnet.
Events
@swellchain - Thrive Swellchain is allocating $SWELL to visionary builders advancing liquid restaking, fueling high-valume transactions and deep ecosystem engagement, across 15-30 high-impact projects through two distinct grant programs — explore funding opportunities today.
@Starknet - Art Peace, the fully onchain game experiement, is back with Season 3. With a gasless & signless experience, AI agents integration and a 20K STRK prize pool, get ready to lock in from February 21st to 25th.
@NethermindStark - Join the Nethermind and Starknet team on Feb 20th in London, as they discuss and host workshops on Starknet and privacy.
@Starknet - Starknet are hosting the first Basecamp in Portugal with three online sessions to explore Starknet fundamentals, smart contracts, frontend integration, and Cairo basics. These sessions will equip you to participate in Starknet Hackathons and Hacker Houses (HH), and apply for Seed Grants.
@arbitrum - Arbitrum are going big at ETHDenver. Check out which events you can register for, as well as where you can find the team throughout the event.
@zksync - Register for the Elastic House event at ETHDenver, held on February 28th and March 1st — two days of demos, talks, and tasty food!
Metrics and Stats
Sum of all value locked in the L2 ecosystem.
Tracks user operations of Rollups on Ethereum, including regular transactions and actions bundled into a single transaction.
Number of unique addresses interacting with one or multiple Layer 2s weekly.
The number of daily transactions executed by users/smart contracts.
How much does it cost to transact on Layer 2?
This newsletter is for educational purposes only, and should never in any way be considered as financial or investment advice.
Thanks for reading!