Comparing zkSync Era and Arbitrum, beyond the numbers

Journalist

Posted: November 21, 2023

• zkSync led Arbitrum in total monthly revenue.
• Arbitrum, however, took the lead in other key metrics.

The latest data showed that the zkSync Era platform has outperformed Arbitrum [ARB] in a crucial metric. 

zkSync Era leads Arbitrum in revenue

According to a CryptoRank ranking, which assessed leading Layer 2 platforms based on monthly fees and revenues, zkSync Era outranked Arbitrum [ARB].

According to the chart, zkSync Era reported monthly fees of around $4.8 million, with around $1.1 million in revenue. In comparison, Arbitrum recorded fees of about $4.7 million and revenue of around $1.3 million.

Top 6 Layer 2 Blockchains by Monthly Fees and Revenue#zkSyncEra – $4.8M#Arbitrum $ARB – $4.7M#Optimism $OP – $4.5M#Linea – $2.6M#StarkNet $STRK – $2.3M#Base – $1.4M pic.twitter.com/px53ogTTMJ

— CryptoRank Platform (@CryptoRank_io) November 20, 2023

While this data indicated a slight edge for ZK over ARB, how do these platforms compare when considering data beyond the recent findings?

Comparing the volume and stablecoin market capitalization

An examination of the volume and stablecoin market caps for both platforms revealed a substantial difference. According to DefiLlama, ZkSync Era has grown from around $20 million to over $50 million since it was created, reaching $53 million as of this writing.

However, in comparison to Arbitrum, ZkSync’s volume remained relatively low. DefiLlama’s chart showed ARB’s lowest recent volume, going over $88 million. Also, as of this writing, the volume was around $589 million.

Source: DefiLlama

The volume metrics show the daily transaction activity on each platform. Further divergence was evident when analyzing the stablecoin market cap. The chart showed a recent fall in ZkSync’s stablecoin market cap, which stood around $104 million at press time.

Conversely, Arbitrum’s stablecoin market cap witnessed a rise, reaching around $1.9 billion as of this writing. This difference meant that, despite ZkSync’s higher revenue, all other metrics suggested that the ARB network was larger in scale.

Source: DefiLlama

Analyzing the TVL market share

When considering Total Value Locked (TVL), AMBCrypto’s analysis of data from L2 Beat showed a substantial gap between the two platforms. At the time of this writing, Arbitrum’s TVL was around $6.4 billion, whereas zkSync Era’s TVL was around $445 million.

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Regarding market share, these TVL figures positioned ARB as the leader with over 55% of the market. ZkSync, on the other hand, held the fourth position, representing around 3.8% of the market share.

To put it in perspective, ARB’s TVL dominance highlighted its significant presence in the market. On the other hand, ZkSync’s lower TVL placed it further down the ranking. This data showed the considerable difference in scale between the two platforms in terms of value locked.