Layer 2 Weekly Roundup #95
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
@Starknet - Starknet has leveled up to a Stage 1 ZK Rollup, proving their commitment to security and decentralization.
@Agglayer - Introducing the Agglayer Visualizer: a 3D interactive tool for exploring how unified bridging and crosschain settlement work under the hood.
@buildonbase - Base are starting to test Flashblocks in a staged rollout on Base, reducing effective block times from 2 seconds to 200 milliseconds. Builders can integrate Flashblocks on testnet today to prepare for the full rollout on mainnet.
@taikoxyz - Taiko’s Pacaya Hardfork, a crucial step toward based preconfirmations, is coming to the Taiko Alethia mainnet at Block 1,166,000, estimated to occur May 21st.
@arbitrum - Two new client teams, Erigon and Nethermind, have officially started developement to support the Arbitrum ecosystem. This unlocks significant performance improvements and cost reductions, as well as helps build a stronger defense system against bugs, downtime and centralized dependencies.
@fuel_network - In collaboration with Simply Staking, Fuel has developed a sophisticated system that distributes sequencing responsibilities across multiple validators while maintaining high performance and security.
@fuel_network - Fuel is live on Dune, making Fuel directly accessible to global institutions, investment hubs, financial analysts and Dune's global community.
Ecosystem Highlights
@WonderFiLabs - Wonder is live on mainnet: a ZKSync Chain making onchain finance accessible to over 1.7M users.
@OrkiFi - Orki Finance - Swellchain’s native stablecoin and credit protocol - is live on Swellchain. Borrow USDK against multi-collateral assets such as Swell’s LRT, rswETH, with self-customizable risk and interest rates.
@Superpositionso - Introducing 9Lives 2.0, Superposition’s biggest update so far. 9Lives is a prediction market where users can now create and trade multiple outcomes in a single event.
@wasabi_protocol - Wasabi is bringing seamless onchain trading to platforms shaping Base culture, such as Zora, Superform and Virtuals.
@buildwithedwin - Announced native edwin support on Arbitrum, bridging the gap between the users of ChatGPT, Claude, and other popular AI assistants to Arbitrum and it’s DeFi ecosystem.
@LidoFinance - wstETH is now available on Swellchain. Bridge your wstETH to Swellchain using Superbridge, and continue earning staking rewards while exploring onchain DeFi opportunities.
@CopperxHQ - Stablecoin payments are now live on Starknet with Copperx - a powerful layer to the onchain finance stack, helping builders and businesses turn stablecoins into real-world utility.
@inconetwork - Inco, the confidentiality layer of web3 that enables smart contracts with confidential compute to unlock use cases and enable widespread web3 adoption, is live on Base Sepolia testnet.
@FDLabsHQ - FDUSD has expanded to Arbitrum — bringing fast, cost-effective transactions to our global community.
@RealmsEternum - Eternum S1 is now fully live on Mainnet. Eternum is a Civilization x AoE-style game with resource gathering, alliances, strategy, and betrayal; fully onchain, with all blockchain complexity abstracted away.
@SuperlendHQ - Superlend are bringing a simpler way to put your USDC to use on chain with SuperFund - an efficient stablecoin savings account on Base.
@plutus - Introducing +PLUS More. Plutus’ Debit Card rewards your everyday purchases with decentralised loyalty points, plus access to over 50 perks like Spotify and Netflix. Sign up, and grab your card today.
@rivoxyz - DeFi on Base just got easier with Maneki — a DeFi AI agent, designed to simplify and enhance your decentralized finance experience.
@QuickNode - Introducing Adventure Layer, the world’s first AI native L2 for onchain gaming, now live on Arbitrum Orbit and powered by QuickNode RaaS
@Astralabs_LN - With Astra Pay, Base users can now pay any Lightning invoice with USDC — instantly and globally — from online shops to real-world merchants.
Articles and Threads
@StarkPay_App - StarkPay published an article on how the SN Stack’s end-to-end architecture, active foundation support, and thriving ecosystem combine to give builders and investors an unassailable edge.
@zkSyncDevs - Learn how to use solx, a modern Solidity compiler built on LLVM, via Foundry and compare gas consumption against solc, in this walkthrough.
@OPLabsPBC - OP Labs are kicking off a new deep dive series on PeerDAS. In this first article, explore how PeerDAS works and how it impacts different ecosystem stakeholders - from NO’s and rollups to app developers and users.
Media - Spaces and Podcasts
@Agglayer - Agglayer hosted their most anticipated Space yet to discuss their overall vision and future for Agglayer.
@r2yield - R2 Community hosted a Space with the teams from Offchain Labs, Wormhole, and DigiFT to discuss RWAs and Stablecoins.
@swellnetworkio - Learn about Orki’s stablecoin, $USDK, their launch on Swellchain, Orki Drops and more, in this Space.
@arbitrum - Dive into Agent Arena - Arbitrum’s biggest AI trading competition - and hear from the participants to learn more about their products.
@EspressoSys - Espresso and Layer3 explore Espresso Network, composability and their growing crosschain ecosystem in this Space.
Events
@arbitrum - Arbitrum’s latest competition - Agent Arena - runs from May 12th to June 11th, and sees trading agents duke it out in the orderbooks for a $50k prize.
@auraonchain - Introducing the Dev’s Gambit, an onchain AI chess tournamnet open to everyone with a $35k prize pool — brought to you by Aura.
@Scroll_ZKP - Join the Scroll team at the Dutch Blockchain Week Hackathon from May 21st - 22nd to bring your AI+compliance ideas to life
@StarkWareLtd - Join the StarkWare team in Vegas on May 28th for a workshop on syncing a Bitcoin node in one minute, add privacy to Cashu mint, and more.
Metrics and Stats
Sum of all value locked in the L2 ecosystem
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!