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Three protocols are vying for dominance of the Ethereum Layer 2 market and its $52 billion worth of so-called decentralized finance (DeFi): Arbitrum (ARB), Optimism (OP), and Base. Bullish investors even see an opportunity for layer 2s to displace some of Ethereum’s $220 billion market cap or even the values of alternate blockchains like Solana or Avalanche. Something of a misnomer, a “layer 2” cheapens and speeds up the transactions of a layer 1 blockchain, yet layer 2s are essentially separate blockchains that publish data onto a base blockchain. Arbitrum and Optimism were the two earliest major competitors, and their valuations remain closely matched. Despite wildly divergent approaches, both ARB and OP are trading within 5% of a $3.2 billion fully diluted valuation. In contrast to Arbitrum and Optimism, Base is a corporately incubated layer 2 that doesn’t have a native token. Instead of an initial coin offering (ICO) or airdrop, Base financially ...

Pepe Unchained ($PEPU) has smashed past $9 million in funds raised in its blistering new presale, only six days after hitting $8 million.  Week-on-week, investors have been flocking into the new Pepe token, which runs on its own proprietary Layer 2 chain on Ethereum. Between the presale’s rapid $8 million and $9 million milestones, one mysterious whale recently put $3.13 million on Pepe ($PEPE) during the dip, splitting it into two transactions. In a parallel development this week, there was a bustling surge of activity around Ethereum Layer 2 solutions.  Coinbase’s proprietary Base chain hit 3.6 million transactions on Monday. On Tuesday, all Layer 2 protocols collectively handled 12.44 million transactions. This demonstrates the clear growing use of scaling solutions. Timely Pepe fever, alongside the burgeoning Layer 2 activity, are causing several prominent Web3 influencers to buy and tout $PEPU, including Austin Hilton wi...

Conflux Network introduced an EVM-compatible layer-2 solution that can interact with Bitcoin amid growing interest in crypto’s largest blockchain.  According to Conflux, users can move Bitcoin (BTC) and inscription-powered assets between its blockchain and Bitcoin’s ecosystem. The new L2 network will run atop the main Conflux chain and use BTC for gas fees while supporting Ethereum-based smart contracts via the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) standard.  A mainnet is expected to roll out by May if all goes to plan. Before that, a testnet teased by the end of March will look to capture early users and developer activity.  Conflux is a China-based layer-1 network that unites proof-of-stake and proof-of-work blockchain models in its operations. Its BTC L2 solution will also rely on a similar design to offer new dapps and products, a Jan. 18 blog post explained. You might also like: Developer asks community not to underestimate Bitcoin Ordinals This paradigm shift u...