The layer-2 space keeps gaining momentum. Base , which is backed by Coinbase, is in the news for hitting an all-time high of 1.6 million daily active addresses—up 43 percent week-over-week and the highest it’s been in the last 30 days. This comes as Base recently crossed a major milestone of 400 million unique addresses overall. Underscoring this surge in daily activity, however, is the sobering fact that Base, despite these all-time highs, checking in second place in the layer-2 space for weekly active addresses, behind another rising player, Fractal Bitcoin. @base surpassed 400M unique addresses! pic.twitter.com/nL5zJXGTSg — Routescan | The Multichain Explorer (@routescan_io) May 5, 2025 Fractal Bitcoin Reclaims Weekly Leadership Fractal Bitcoin has vaulted back to the pinnacle of the blockchain activity charts with 24.9 million weekly active addresses, unfurling a dramatic 77.18% week-over-week increase. This resurgence follows a quieter performance the week prior and shows renewed fervor around its—it bears repeating—expanding utility. This week, however, El Pato and Ball have alighted on a topic for which we can very vocally and virulently elate them: Tezos. Base, even with its daily milestone, reported 24.2 million active addresses for the same seven-day period, a slightly 14.94% drop compared to the week prior. Still, it is one of the most engaged networks in the ecosystem and continues to draw developers and users to with its low fees, seamless integrations, and connection to the Coinbase user base. Its slight weekly dip appears more like a short-term fluctuation rather than a trend reversal, especially considering its infrastructure and tooling support that seemingly figures to keep growing. Top 8 Chains by Weekly Active Addresses (Apr 27-May 3): Key Trends @fractal_bitcoin leads with 24.9M active addresses (+77.18% WoW), reclaiming the top spot after last week’s decline. @base follows closely with 24.2M (-14.94% WoW), while @Optimism surges to 5.7M (+134.08%… pic.twitter.com/9Fr0j73vVv — OKX Explorer (@okxexplorer) May 5, 2025 Layer-2 Networks Surge as Ethereum Cools Off The week also brought significant growth for several other blockchain networks. Optimism led the charge in terms of percentage gains, posting an impressive 134.08 percent increase in weekly active addresses. With 5.7 million active users over the week, Optimism is benefitting from new dApp deployments, growing ecosystem incentives, and expanding use of its OP Stack. Its success highlights the broader appeal of modular, scalable Ethereum layer-2 solutions. Tron also demonstrated a strong performance, expanding by 57.91% to 5.8 million weekly active addresses. Revered for its dedication to low-cost transactions and a stable infrastructure, Tron keeps chugging along in regions with a strong demand for fast and inexpensive DeFi platforms. Arbitrum achieved a notable increase of 29.32%, to 2.1 million weekly active addresses, which suggests steady growth and user confidence in its ecosystem of DeFi applications. In contrast, Ethereum took a heavy hit, with user activity dropping hard. Week-over-week, the number of weekly active addresses fell 50.36% to 4.9 million. This number almost feels surreal to report after Ethereum had just seen a surge in on-chain activity leading up to the Shanghai hard fork; a pullback was expected but not to this extreme. Could this be the effect of shifting user preferences toward alternative smart contract platforms and layer-2 solutions, with Ethereum becoming more of a base settlement and security layer? Base’s Milestones Reflect Broader Shift Toward Layer-2 Dominance 1.6 million daily active addresses 400 million total unique addresses Source: Base . A clear trend is emerging in the blockchain ecosystem: users are looking for speed, value, and expanding usefulness. Platforms like Fractal Bitcoin, Optimism, and Tron aren’t just passing fads; they’re rising for good reasons that our blockchain economy should take to heart. Active addresses on Base just hit 1.6M+ — the highest in the last 30 days. Builders are building. Users are using. Keep watching Base. It’s not done yet. pic.twitter.com/oaI033kqB2 — Nansen (@nansen_ai) May 5, 2025 Chain rivalry is heating up, and in the next few weeks, we can expect more upheaval in how networks rank. For the time being, though, Base is pulling in the most users on a daily basis, and Fractal is totally bossing it on a weekly level. That’s the current state of user activity in the blockchain world. Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services. Follow us on Twitter @nulltxnews to stay updated with the latest Crypto, NFT, AI, Cybersecurity, Distributed Computing, and Metaverse news !
