- Arbitrum has surpassed Optimism in terms of the number of deals.
- Despite the growth, the decline in the number of active developers and the growth of the stablecoin network have raised questions about sustainability.
The Arbitrum protocol has recently surpassed Optimism [OP] in terms of the number of transactions made on its network. According to Messari on February 7, the number of transactions made on the protocol was significantly higher than Optimism.
Users show interest in Arbitrum
The surge in transactions can be explained by the growing number of accumulated users in the protocol. Of these users, 74.1% made more than one transaction and 20.9% were occasional users.
Even though the average number of transactions per address is lower, the number of active addresses on Arbitrum has increased, showing that more people were using the protocol at print time.
This growth led to an increase in Arbitrum’s revenue. According to Token Terminal, the total revenue generated from the protocol was $19,900 as of press time, after a 61% increase in the last 30 days. However, while this is a positive sign of growth and popularity, there were some warning signs as well.
One such sign was a decrease in the number of active developers, which meant that the development of the protocol could slow down.
Stablecoin angle
In addition, stablecoin network growth on Arbitrum has declined as stablecoins such as Tether [USDT]Dai [DAI] and USD Coin [USDC] all posted alarming numbers, according to data from Santiment. This may further herald an upcoming drop in overall protocol activity.
Despite these warning signs, it is important to note that the Arbitrum protocol was still in its early stages of development. Perhaps the decline in the number of active developers and the growth of the stablecoin network is a temporary setback. However, it is possible that the decline was a sign of deeper problems that needed to be addressed.