Ethereum Layer 2 Networks Hit Record Activity in July 2026

Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism collectively surpassed Ethereum mainnet transaction volumes in July 2026 as fees fell to near-zero and user adoption accelerated.

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Ethereum Layer 2 Networks Hit Record Activity in July 2026 chart

Overview

What is Ethereum Layer 2 Networks Hit Record Activity in July 2026?

July 2026 marked a historic inflection point for Ethereum's Layer 2 ecosystem. For the first time, the combined daily transaction volume across Layer 2 networks — including Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync Era, and Starknet — exceeded Ethereum mainnet throughput by a factor of more than 12 to 1. This milestone, widely anticipated by the Ethereum developer community, validated the long-running bet that L2 scaling would drive the next phase of Ethereum adoption rather than a wholesale migration to competing Layer 1 chains.

Base, Coinbase's Layer 2 network built on the OP Stack, was the standout performer of the month. Daily active addresses on Base crossed 4.2 million — surpassing Ethereum mainnet's 1.1 million — as Coinbase's retail distribution network continued to funnel millions of users into the on-chain ecosystem. The network's total value locked (TVL) grew to over $24 billion, cementing it as the second-largest L2 by TVL behind Arbitrum. Base's success has been driven in part by its deep integration with Coinbase's centralised exchange, allowing users to move funds on-chain with a single tap — dramatically reducing the friction that historically prevented retail users from participating in DeFi.

Arbitrum maintained its position as the largest Ethereum L2 by TVL at $31 billion, with its decentralised finance ecosystem continuing to attract sophisticated users. The Arbitrum DAO — one of the most active decentralised governance organisations in crypto — approved several high-profile protocol upgrades during July, including a new fee rebate programme for high-volume market makers that further improved liquidity depth on native decentralised exchanges.

The technical catalyst for July's surge was the full activation of EIP-7691, which doubled the blob count per block following the Pectra hard fork earlier in the year. This increase in data availability capacity directly reduced L2 transaction costs. Average transaction fees on Base and Arbitrum fell to approximately $0.002–$0.004 per transaction in July — costs so low they are effectively imperceptible to end users and have unlocked entirely new categories of micro-transaction and gaming use cases.

DeFi activity on L2 networks reached new highs. The combined daily DEX trading volume across all major L2s exceeded $18 billion on peak days in July, representing a 340% year-over-year increase. Lending protocols including Aave and Compound reported record loan originations on L2 deployments as users discovered that the same DeFi primitives available on mainnet could now be accessed at a fraction of the cost.

NFT and gaming activity on L2 networks also hit new records. Base-native gaming protocols attracted over 800,000 daily players during July, driven by on-chain games that leverage the network's near-zero transaction costs to enable true in-game asset ownership. This activity drove significant ETH burn through transaction fees even on L2, contributing to ongoing deflationary pressure on the Ethereum supply.

From a price perspective, ETH rose approximately 19% during July, outperforming both Bitcoin and the broader crypto market. Analysts attributed the outperformance to a combination of factors: the positive L2 activity data, continued ETH staking demand (approximately 28% of the total supply is now staked), and increasing institutional interest in ETH as a yield-generating asset via staking products offered through regulated custodians and ETF structures.

For crypto traders and automated strategies, the L2 explosion created new opportunities in L2-native governance tokens. ARB (Arbitrum), OP (Optimism), and ZK (zkSync) all experienced significant price appreciation during July as their respective networks posted record metrics. Cross-chain arbitrage strategies that exploit price discrepancies across L2 ecosystems also became increasingly viable as liquidity on these networks deepened.

How It Works in auto-Trading

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auto-Trading's multi-exchange strategy engine can monitor and trade assets across multiple blockchain ecosystems simultaneously. For L2-native tokens like ARB and OP, strategies can be configured to track on-chain activity metrics — transaction volume, TVL growth, and active user counts — as leading indicators for price momentum. The platform's cross-asset correlation engine can also be used to build ETH-leverage strategies that capitalise on the positive feedback loop between L2 adoption and ETH price appreciation.

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External Resources

Learn from Trusted Sources

L2Beat — Layer 2 TVL Tracker↗

Comprehensive real-time data on Ethereum Layer 2 TVL, activity, and security metrics.

The Block — Ethereum L2 Analysis↗

In-depth reporting on Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem developments and metrics.

Coindesk — Base Network Growth↗

CoinDesk technology coverage of Base and other Coinbase-linked L2 developments.

Messari — Ethereum Ecosystem Report↗

Messari research reports on Ethereum and its Layer 2 ecosystem performance.

Strategy Code

Pick a script below, copy it, and use it on your chart.

Pine Script (TradingView)

This is a TradingView Pine Script strategy example for this page concept. Paste it into the TradingView Pine Editor, add it to your chart, and run it in the Strategy Tester.

//@version=6
strategy("Ethereum Layer 2 Networks Hit Record Activity in July 2026", overlay=true)
momLen  = input.int(10,  "Momentum Length")
trendLen = input.int(50, "Trend EMA")
rsiLen  = input.int(14,  "RSI Length")
mom    = close - close[momLen]
ema50  = ta.ema(close, trendLen)
r      = ta.rsi(close, rsiLen)
// Buy when momentum is positive, price above trend EMA, RSI not overbought
longSignal  = mom > 0 and close > ema50 and r > 50 and r < 70
exitSignal  = mom < 0 or close < ema50
if longSignal
    strategy.entry("Mom", strategy.long)
if exitSignal
    strategy.close("Mom")
plot(ema50, "Trend EMA", color=color.orange)

ThinkScript (thinkorswim)

This is a thinkorswim ThinkScript strategy example for this page concept. Open thinkorswim, create a custom strategy, paste the script, and apply it to your chart.

input length = 10;
def mom = Momentum(length = length);
def trend = ExpAverage(close, 50);
def buySignal = mom > 0 and close > trend;
def sellSignal = mom < 0 or close < trend;
AddOrder(OrderType.BUY_AUTO, buySignal, close, 1, Color.GREEN, Color.GREEN, "Momentum Buy");
AddOrder(OrderType.SELL_AUTO, sellSignal, close, 1, Color.RED, Color.RED, "Momentum Exit");
plot Mom = mom;
Mom.SetDefaultColor(Color.CYAN);

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