Layer-2 Networks are ‘Consolidating’ Around Tech Stacks as Pectra Upgrade Looms

Layer-2 (L2) networks are coalescing round dominant tech stacks relatively 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 going on, regardless of general transaction progress.

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

The OP stack, for example, has emerged as a dominant participant within the L2 sector, with most networks utilizing its tooling, real-time knowledge from Rollup.wtf cited by Blockscout exhibits. 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 exhibits how “bridge abstraction,” which refers back to the strategy of simplifying how customers might transfer property between completely different chains, might turn into a problem for L2 gamers in the long term.

As an alternative of contributing to a common customary, main L2 gamers are creating proprietary interoperability options which will trigger “UX friction for customers,” making it tough for them to “navigate and switch funds between networks,” Blockscout statedin a press release, responding to follow-up questions.

Information paradox

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

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 relatively than short-term 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 recommend L2s are optimizing for particular capabilities that work throughout chains, relatively than trying 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 stated.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair