On October 27, 2023, the DeFi sector experienced a remarkable surge in Total Value Locked (TVL) within Ethereum’s second-layer solutions. This crucial metric for programmable blockchains saw impressive growth, despite a general lack of enthusiasm in the cryptocurrency market.
The aggregated value of cryptocurrencies locked in all Layer-2 platforms on Ethereum, denominated in USD, reached an all-time high. It briefly touched $12 billion before stabilizing near $11.87 billion, surpassing the previous historic high of $11.85 billion registered on April 17.
Although there was a slight retracement to $11.81 billion in the following hours, the USD-denominated TVL had increased by over 114% in the past 12 months, showcasing resilience amid the subdued market performance.
In terms of Ether-denominated value, a new record was achieved on October 11, 2023, with the ecosystem locking 6.72 million Ether, a substantial increase from the 3.5 million Ether locked just a year ago.
Over the past week, the Layer-2 ecosystem added 10.36% in dollar-denominated TVL, with several major platforms such as Arbitrum, OP Mainnet (formerly Optimism), Starknet, ImmutableX, and Loopring posting even more remarkable gains.
Ethereum (ETH), a cornerstone asset for Layer-2 solutions, also saw a notable uptick, rising by 10.14% during the same period. This surge followed a recent revisit to a multi-month low of over $1,836, just two days prior.
While Arbitrum and OP Mainnet continue to dominate the Ethereum Layer-2 landscape, accounting for over 90% of the TVL, competition intensifies for the third spot. Base, the fastest-growing Layer-2 platform, currently holds that position with 4.83% of the TVL, followed closely by zkSync Era and dYdX with 3.8% and 3%, respectively.
Notably, dYdX recently made a highly anticipated announcement of its migration from the Layer-2 model to becoming a standalone Tendermint-based Layer 1, marking a significant development in the dynamic world of Ethereum Layer-2 solutions.