The Ethereum layer 2 network Base, backed by Coinbase, has outpaced Arbitrum to become the leading platform in terms of active addresses. Growthepie data shows that Base registered over 1.48 million new active addresses in the initial nine days of April, edging out Arbitrum One, which recorded 1.43 million active addresses.
In addition to Base and Arbitrum One, Ethereum scaling solutions zkSync Era and Optimism mainnet also rank among the top four, with 1.21 million and 650,000 active addresses, respectively. Although Base has surged ahead in active addresses in the recent days, Arbitrum One maintains a slight lead over Base in terms of active addresses over the past 30 days, with 3.84 million compared to Base’s 3.76 million.
While Base has seen a remarkable increase in active addresses, Starknet and Mantle have witnessed the most significant declines, with a 51% and 40% decrease in active addresses over the past 30 days, respectively.
The total value locked in the Base protocol has surpassed $4 billion earlier this month, trailing only Arbitrum One and Optimism mainnet, according to L2BEAT data. Additionally, Base has recorded the highest 30-day transaction volume at 53.1 million, outstripping Arbitrum’s 41.2 million and Ethereum’s 37.9 million during the same period.
The surge in Base’s active addresses can be attributed in part to the recent surge in memecoin activity on the network, which has seen the emergence of popular tokens like Brett (BRETT) and Degen (DEGEN). However, Base's popularity has also attracted fraudulent activities, with phishing scams on the network witnessing an 18-fold increase from January to March, resulting in $3.35 million in losses last month alone. Despite being fully controlled by Coinbase, the company has expressed its commitment to gradually decentralize Base over time.
