Ethereum layers receive an influx of transactions like never before in their history

During November, Ethereum’s second layer (L2) networks surpassed 900 million transactions. This is the highest monthly volume recorded in the entire history of these chains.

In October, as reported by NoticiasVE, the group of these networks had reached 817 million transactions. The November jump implies a growth close to 10%which also extends a trend that has already accumulated four consecutive months of increases.

The following graph shows how each of these networks, including Base, opBNB, Arbitrum One, Soneium, World Chain or OP Mainnet, contributes a relevant portion to the monthly total.

Base, the most operated L2 of all those chains, contributed nearly 454 million transactions and it once again ranked as the most used. They were followed by opBNB with almost 115 million and Arbitrum One, with more than 90 million.

The L2 processes transactions and interactions outside the main chain, and then settles in the L1 through. That design makes them significantly faster and much cheaper compared to running everything directly on the Ethereum base network.

For example, Base produces blocks, on average, every 2 seconds and charges fees of 0.00034 gwei per transaction. Gwei is the unit of measurement for gas in Ethereum, with which commissions are determined. With a price of $2,800 per ether (ETH), 0.00034 gwei is equivalent to a minimum fraction: USD 0,0000000001.

In L1, even with low rates, the cost is around 0.034 gwei, which is USD 0.0000000952. In practical terms, operating in L1 is 100 times more expensive than doing so in Base.

On the other hand, Fusaka, the new network update, will arrive on December 3, which will enhance the scalability of L2so the difference in adoption between both layers could increase.

Finally, the main Ethereum layer processed approximately 45 million transactions in November. The figure represents a drop of 6% compared to 48 million in October.