Uniswap Ethereum L2 addresses reach new high of 8.5m

The number of Ethereum layer-2 wallet addresses using Uniswap’s decentralized exchange has nearly doubled in the past month compared to the numbers recorded in June.

Dune analytics data showed that 8.5 million Ethereum (ETH) addresses traded on Uniswap via L2s like Arbitrum, Base, Optimism, Polygon, and ZKSync, setting a new all-time high. Uniswap is the largest DEX on any blockchain and generated nearly $100 million in fees in June.

ETH layer-2s operate on top of or adjacent to Ethereum’s mainnet to help with the second-largest decentralized network in crypto. While Vitalik Buterin’s co-created blockchain is known for secure permissionless transactions, on-chain bottlenecks frequently occur, increasing the cost of sending assets.

L2s are designed to reduce congestion on ETH’s primary chain and offer a cheaper way to transact in the largest decentralized finance ecosystem.

Ethereum L2 addresses are rising, but TVL is falling

Protocols like Base and Polygon boasted cheaper transaction costs, namely gas fees, than Ethereum, but the March Dencun upgrade improved this offering.

According to L2Fees, it costs less than $1 to send Ether across layer-2 networks and less than $3 to exchange the digital asset. This affordability is the primary reason why L2 addresses have been increasing since February, just before developers shipped Dencun.

As this pattern unfolds, total user deposits, aka the total value locked (TVL), have decreased across DeFi chains, including Ethereum and its L2s.

According to DefiLlama data, there have been declines of up to 25% in the last 30 days. The decline in TVLs reflected market corrections and broader declines in the altcoin sector.