Unichain, Uniswap's newly launched Ethereum Layer-2 network, was the fastest growing blockchain in its debut month, according to blockchain data company Nansen.
According to blockchain analytics company Nansen, Unichain, which launched its mainnet on February 11th, saw 236,452 active addresses in its first month. While impressive in the new network, Unichain's user base remains small compared to Solana's total of 112 million users and roughly 19 million active users in Base and BNB chains.
Berachain has a more active address, but Unichain's Dex volume dominates. Source: Nansen
However, Unichain has already emerged as a major player in distributed exchange (DEX) volumes, recording $217.7 billion. Ranked third in the industry, it surpasses the basic tier of Ethereum at $91.2 billion.
The month after its debut, UNISWAP will skyrocket to the top three DEX volumes in the industry. Source: Nansen
Berachain, who debuted in early February, ranked eighth in the industry, reporting a 30-day DEX volume of $3.7 billion. There were far more active addresses than the 1.7 million Unichain.
Of the established networks, only Dex volumes have increased in the BNB chain, 161% surged to $233.9 billion, making it the second largest volume.
Uniswap's Layer 2 Fire Recovers Dex Throne
Uniswap was the biggest DEX for most of its existence, but especially during the recent Memecoin Frenzy, users have driven users towards cheaper alternatives such as Solana and BNB chains. As a result, Uniswap recognized the top Dex spots for Solana-based Raydium in October and November 2024.
Related: Uniswap debuts Unichain Mainnet and joins the busy ETH L2 ecosystem
With the rise of the Ethereum Layer-2 solution and the launch of Unichain, users have access to Uniswap's services with lower prices and faster transactions. At bootup, UniSwap abandoned all the interface fees for swaps, and the network boasted one second block time, and planned to reduce them to 250 ms.
According to Defillama, as of March 10, UniSwap had regained its position as the top DEX with Total Value Locked (TVL).
Despite the industry-wide struggle, Uniswap's Dex TVL is leading. Source: Defilama
Solana's cooling amid the decline of Memecoin
Industry-wide TVL fell from $138 billion in mid-December 2024 to $91.8 billion as of March 10th.
As the hype of memocoin becomes quieter, defi activity slows down. Source: Defilama
Meanwhile, Solana has remained a leader in active addresses, transactions and DEX volumes, but its key metrics have declined over the past 30 days, Nansen's data shows. Active addresses decreased by 19%, transactions decreased by 70%, and Dex volume decreased by 27%.
Solana is Memecoin Trading's go-to network, with even celebrities and politicians launching tokens. But allegations of investor appetite, bot activity and fraud have placed emphasis on emotions, including Hayden Davis and the Libra-related controversy over Argentine's President-supported tokens. The overall market sentiment of Solana token launch activities and Memecoins has since been removed.
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