This website by the great @bitfish is really good—it could become a history of L2s’ demise!
Thinking back, L2s were probably at their peak from 2023 through the end of 2024, especially around November 2024.
The $ARB airdrop on March 23, 2023 was an important turning point. After that, the L2 market pretty much followed the same template—
1) Launch a chain;
2) Attract airdrop farmers with points, cross-chain activity, deposits, and trading rewards;
3) Pump up the metrics and raise funding;
4) TGE, everyone celebrates, then users and liquidity quickly leave.
Once the model became commoditized, supply outstripped demand. Many chains had no distinctive applications and just copied the same DeFi, NFT, and points-based playbook.
The L2s still standing today fall into three tiers—
Tier 1: Base, Arbitrum
Tier 2: OP Stack ecosystem, Mantle, Starknet
Winners in the app-specific category: Lighter, Unichain, Ink
$ARB
Thinking back, L2s were probably at their peak from 2023 through the end of 2024, especially around November 2024.
The $ARB airdrop on March 23, 2023 was an important turning point. After that, the L2 market pretty much followed the same template—
1) Launch a chain;
2) Attract airdrop farmers with points, cross-chain activity, deposits, and trading rewards;
3) Pump up the metrics and raise funding;
4) TGE, everyone celebrates, then users and liquidity quickly leave.
Once the model became commoditized, supply outstripped demand. Many chains had no distinctive applications and just copied the same DeFi, NFT, and points-based playbook.
The L2s still standing today fall into three tiers—
Tier 1: Base, Arbitrum
Tier 2: OP Stack ecosystem, Mantle, Starknet
Winners in the app-specific category: Lighter, Unichain, Ink
$ARB
