Key Highlights
- NEAR recorded a 158% weekly jump in transactions, backed by rising active addresses, though revenue remains modest.
- Plasma (+28%), Aptos (+22%), Ethereum (+10%), and Stellar (+14%) also saw rising activity across different use cases.
- Base, Arbitrum, Polygon, and Optimism handle millions of transactions, easing congestion while settling back to Layer-1.
The transaction volumes on the Layer-1 blockchain have shown a significant uptrend in recent weeks, indicating a general recovery in overall engagement and not just a hotspot on a specific blockchain.
According to recent data available from on-chain analytics firm Nansen, several Layer-1 blockchains posted double-digit transaction growth rates that showcase their active adoption.
NEAR Protocol pioneers the way
At the forefront of this trend is NEAR Protocol, which registered an astonishing 158% increase in the transactions over the last seven days alone. Notably, the last week saw an unabated rise in the number of active addresses as well, and the rise in transactions is unlikely to be an interpolation effect.
According to DeFiLlama, NEAR currently generates about $3,998 in daily network revenue, showing that while user activity is rising, actual economic output remains relatively low.
The network has $140.12 million locked in DeFi, down 1.16% over the past 24 hours, pointing to stable but modest capital usage. Overall, this suggests that NEAR’s growing activity has not yet fully translated into stronger economic performance.
Growth across other Layer‑1 chains
NEAR is by no means alone in seeing higher activity. Plasma posted a 28% increase in transactions, while Aptos rose by 22%, supported by one of the largest active user bases among mid-tier networks.
Ethereum also continued to grow at a steady rate, with weekly transactions up 10%. Even as some activity has shifted to Layer-2 networks, Ethereum remains the main settlement layer for DeFi, stablecoins, and institutional use, meaning Ethereum still lies at the heart of the greater ecosystem.
Payment-centric networks also reported regular demand. Stellar said it processed a 14% increase in the number of transactions, signaling continued usage for cross-border transfers.
At the same time, BNB Chain processed around 93.85 million transactions, and Solana processed more than 388.5 million transactions, proving that high-throughput Layer-1s continue to enjoy considerable user activity as well.
Layer‑2 networks are boosting Layer‑1 usage
While Layer‑1 networks form the foundation of blockchain security and settlement, their transaction throughput is limited. This has led to rapid growth in Layer‑2 solutions, which handle large volumes off-chain while settling transactions securely on the mainnet.
Recent data highlights the scale of this shift:
- Base: 1.93 million active addresses, 67.37 million transactions
- Arbitrum: 849,140 active addresses, 13.7 million transactions
- Polygon: 6.02 million active addresses, 44.46 million transactions
- Optimism: 145,937 active addresses, 12.68 million transactions
These networks allow users to move high-volume transactions off Layer‑1, reducing congestion while still benefiting from the security of the base layer. They also indirectly increase Layer‑1 usage, as most Layer‑2 transactions eventually settle on the main chain.
Why Layer‑1 usage is growing
The surge in Layer‑1 adoption is being driven by several key factors:
Scaling and efficiency
Layer-1 blockchains have been working towards the implementation of the necessary technology updates in order to be able to process more transactions faster and cheaper
The Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade, which went live on December 3, 2025, increased data capacity and decreased costs for Layer-2 rollups, which meant that more transactions could move through the network at a reduced cost. It also officially raised the block gas limit to 60 million and introduced PeerDAS, which specifically targets 40–60% fee reductions for Layer-2s.
At the same time, Solana supports a substantial transaction rate of around 6,000 to 10,000 transactions per second with minimal costs. This indicates scalability enhancements that are able to cope with a large volume of transactions without making the network slower.
The Lorentz upgrade on BNB Chain, rolled out in April 2025, made the network faster and cheaper to use. It cut block times from about three seconds to 1.5 seconds on the main network and to 0.5 seconds on opBNB, while average transaction fees fell to around $0.04.
These improvements minimize congestion on the system, hence making the system more efficient.
Diverse applications
Transaction volume is no longer just about sending tokens from one wallet to another. Much of today’s on-chain activity comes from real use cases.
In DeFi, users lock funds, trade assets, and provide liquidity. Stable currencies find extensive usage in fast payment systems and value transactions to minimize volatility. Digital collectibles and gaming items are facilitated by non-fungible tokens (NFTs), while gaming applications and cross-chain bridges involve complex interactions between various smart contracts.
Together, these use cases generate genuine economic activity, driving higher transaction counts and growth in active addresses across blockchains.
Layer‑2 integration
Optimism, zkSync Era, Base, Arbitrum, and Polygon, among the layer-2s, were handling the high volume of out-of-chain transactions while settling on-chain in layer-1 securely. This keeps congestion low, holds the fees very low, and achieves better use of layer‑1 indirectly.
For example, zkSync Era grew from approximately 291,900 to more than 1.1 million daily transactions. On-chain data shows that most activity in the Ethereum ecosystem now happens on Layer-2 networks.
These networks process over 85% of Ethereum-related transactions, with Base and Arbitrum handling the largest share, as users move to faster and cheaper platforms built on top of Ethereum.
It is important to note that layer‑2 adoption is crucial for allowing high-frequency transactions without compromising security, thereby making possible the sustainable scaling of the broader ecosystem.
Implications for the Blockchain ecosystem
The increasing adoption of both Layer-1 and Layer-2 networks is indicative of an evolving blockchain industry. Base layers like Ethereum, NEAR, Solana, and BNB Chain are being developed to support actual economies, while the high-frequency transactions are being efficiently conducted by the Layer-2 networks.
Layer-1 networks are growing thanks to better technology, wider use cases, and support from Layer-2 solutions. At the same time, Layer-2 networks help the ecosystem handle more users and transactions safely. Together, this shows that the blockchain space is becoming stronger and more scalable as it moves into 2026.
Also Read: BNB Chain Beats Solana to Become the Most Active Blockchain of 2025
