In recent months, the cryptocurrency industry has witnessed remarkable changes, with some Layer 2 platforms such as Base and Blast achieving amazing milestones. However, while these blockchains celebrate their successes, Bitcoin miners are facing an unprecedented crisis.
Base, the Layer 2 solution developed by Coinbase, recently reached an all-time high of over 875,000 active addresses. This result represents a 60 per cent increase from the 545,000 active addresses recorded only a few weeks earlier. This leap, coupled with a record 4.05 million daily transactions, consolidates Base as one of Ethereum’s leading Layer 2s, despite the fact that it is still inferior to Arbitrum in terms of on-chain volume and total blocked value (TVL). Base’s success can be attributed to Coinbase’s support and successful on-chain campaigns such as ‘on-chain summer’.
In parallel, Blast, another Layer 2, surprised the market by surpassing Arbitrum in the daily transaction count, reaching 1.85 million transactions against Arbitrum’s 1.56 million. This boom occurred despite a 42% drop in the price of the BLAST token. Driving this growth is the $HYPERS protocol, which is designed to handle a high transaction output due to frequent blockchain creation and low transfer fees.
While these emerging blockchains celebrate their successes, Bitcoin miners are facing a difficult time. Revenue per terahash has plummeted to a 12-month low of 4 cents, putting the industry’s profitability at risk. This decline is due to stagnating Bitcoin prices, the increasing difficulty of mining, and a reduction in on-chain activity. Less efficient miners may have to close or consolidate, leading to greater centralisation of hash power.
