Layer-2 Networks are 'Consolidating' Round Tech Stacks as Pectra Improve Looms – Decrypt

Layer-2 (L2) networks are coalescing round dominant tech stacks reasonably than working towards common requirements, analysis from onchain explorer Blockscout reveals.

Talking with Decrypt in a video interview, Ulyana Skladchikova, head of product; and Kirill Fedoseev, head of analysis on the open-source explorer, revealed how a shift towards technical “clustering” is occurring, regardless of general transaction progress.

“We see chains type of get collectively round some large gamers and set up interop inside these teams of chains,” Skladchikova mentioned.

The OP stack, as an example, has emerged as a dominant participant within the L2 sector, with most networks utilizing its tooling, real-time information from Rollup.wtf cited by Blockscout reveals. This stack is a set of open-source requirements used totally on the Optimism community and its “Superchains.”

Such a pattern factors to a “consolidation” round L2 networks, Skladchikova instructed Decrypt.

This additionally reveals how “bridge abstraction,” which refers back to the strategy of simplifying how customers might transfer belongings between totally different chains, might grow to be a problem for L2 gamers in the long term.

As a substitute of contributing to a common customary, main L2 gamers are growing proprietary interoperability options that will trigger “UX friction for customers,” making it troublesome for them to “navigate and switch funds between networks,” Blockscout mentioned in an announcement, responding to follow-up questions.

Knowledge paradox

However the information presents a paradox: whereas transaction volumes on L2 networks like Base have elevated practically threefold to 80 million month-to-month transactions, native bridging between L1 and L2 has declined by roughly 80% since early 2024, information from Blockscout’s inside analysis shared with Decrypt reveals.

This factors to an rising problem round “chain clustering,” a phenomenon the place associated networks attempt to kind shared requirements for speaking with one another to assist ease interoperability.

“There can be chain clusters round each giant ecosystem participant,” Fedoseev instructed Decrypt.

Month-to-month energetic customers per L2 chain spiked 250% in autumn 2024, reaching over 14,000 earlier than stabilizing round 11,000.

Such a sample indicators sustained adoption reasonably than momentary curiosity pushed by airdrops or hypothesis, Blockscout famous in a separate analysis doc shared with Decrypt.

“Early hype does not all the time translate into sustained use.” Blockscout wrote. “When customers migrate from a bigger established platform to a brand new chain, it indicators higher future sustainability.”

With Ethereum’s Pectra improve approaching, these consolidation patterns counsel L2s are optimizing for particular capabilities that work throughout chains, reasonably than making an attempt to be general-purpose scaling options.

If this turns into the case, “we’ll have this one homogeneous interop answer that everybody will simply use,” Skladchikova mentioned.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair