Where does zkSync Era rank in the transaction fees discussion?

• zkSync Era leads in L2 network fees.
• The network has seen a mix of positive and negative metrics recently.

zkSync was created as a Layer 2 (L2) solution to provide a faster and more cost-effective alternative to Ethereum [ETH]. How successful has it been, particularly in terms of transaction fees?

zkSync Era transaction fees

Recent data highlighted the cost-effectiveness of using Layer 2 (L2) platforms such as zkSync Era for transactions.

The chart provides a comparison of fees charged by various L2 networks for ETH transfers and token swaps. As of press time, the fee for an ETH transfer on zkSync is $0.06, and the swap fee is $0.11.

Notably, these fees are the lowest among the major L2s, including Arbitrum [ARB] and Optimism [OP].

The chart also illustrated the fees associated with the same transactions on the Ethereum network. Sending ETH on the Ethereum network incurs a fee of over $1, while a token swap is over $5.

This stark contrast underscores the cost advantages offered by L2 solutions, contributing to their growing popularity over the past few years.

Active accounts and transactions on zkSync Era

Data from Blockscout showed that the total number of transactions on zkSync Era was over 240 million.

According to information from the OKX scanner, the network has witnessed over 138,000 transactions in the last 24 hours.

A deeper analysis of the Blockscout data showed that, as of the present moment, the total number of accounts on zkSync Era was around 5.5 million. 

Additionally, there has been a recent uptrend in the number of active accounts.

At the end of the previous year, active accounts numbered around 140,000, whereas, at the time of this writing, the active accounts were over 443,000.

These metrics collectively suggested a notable increase in the level of interaction with the network in recent times.

Source: Blockscout

Volume and TVL take a tumble

Despite some positive aspects of zkSync Era, both volume and Total Value Locked (TVL) have experienced recent declines.

AMBCrypto’s analysis of the L2’s volume trend on DeFiLlama showed a significant decrease over the past eight days. On the 20th of January, the network recorded a volume of over $54 million.

However, at the time of this writing, the volume has decreased to around $16 million.

Source: DefiLlama

Additionally, a review of the TVL on L2 Beats showed a nearly 6% decline in the last 24 hours. Furthermore, zkSync Era’s market share remained relatively low, standing at over 2% as of the time of this writing.