Ethereans are a proud lot. The community has developed some of the most innovative solutions to scaling problems in cryptocurrency and has maintained relatively low fees compared to other proof-of-work (PoW) networks. However, it seems that even Ethereum enthusiasts would like more transactions per second (TPS). On March 31, according to data from Dune Analytics, two new combined transactions volumes were set by Optimism and Arbitrum: $1.3 billion worth of combined transactions and over $823 million worth of arbitrations handled by Arbitrum alone – a new record for transaction volume on the Ethereum network!
Ethereum Has Competitors
The combined transaction volume of Optimism and Arbitrum has set a new record for Ethereum, reaching almost $13 million on their first day of operation. “This is an exciting milestone in the evolution of both protocols,” said Oleg Khovayko, co-founder of Arbitrum.
Together with Arbitrum, which offered an off-chain scaling solution, Optimism managed to create a layer two protocol that can handle larger amounts of transactions than previously possible on Ethereum. The two platforms combined were able to process more transactions than any other network in history: EOS broke its own record by processing almost $200 million worth of value within 24 hours after launch; the combined solutions processed around $13 million worth of value within 24 hours after launch.”We’re excited about what this means for our project,” said Oleg Khovayko, co-founder and CTO at Optimism Protocol Company Limited (OPC).
The combined transaction volume of both layers is also reaching new highs, with the number of Ethereum transactions increasing by 88% in Q1 2019. The most popular off-chain solution for Ethereum has been Plasma, which aims to move transactions off the main chain before they are finally settled on it.
According to data from Dune Analytics, a consultancy firm focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, Arbitrum has overtaken Raiden as the most active payment channel for ERC20 tokens – making up over 30% of all Ethereum-based token payments. The same report also shows that more than $6 billion worth of ERC20 tokens have been transacted over Raiden so far this year (to date).
