ARB Airdrop by the Numbers, zkSync zkEVM Launch, and More

7 Highlights from the World of Digital Assets

Mar 27, 2023

In this issue:

Arbitrum Airdrop by the Numbers
zkSync Launches zkEVM
Tool for Catching Future Airdrops
DefiLlama Adds Active Addresses by Chain
Bitcoin Innovation Boom
Reddit Launches Token-Gated Communities
Qualifying for the Layer Zero Airdrop

Arbitrum Airdrop by the Numbers

This week, many people received 4 or even 5 figures in the ARB airdrop. One of the most-anticipated events of the year crashed the Arbitrum and Arbiscan websites and produced predictably extreme on-chain metrics. Here are a few of them.

Arbitrum daily transactions spiked to 2.7M:

Arbitrum DEX volume jumped to $1.2B for 2 days in a row:

$157M of stablecoins were bridged onto Arbitrum in a single day:

And if you’re interested in tracking how many people have claimed their Arbitrum airdrop so far, EL DIPsy made an incredible Dune dashboard for that:

EL DIPsy @crypto_DIPsy

Around 79% addresses have claimed the $ARB airdrop, what about the remaining addresses? Have added another segment to check these wallets' last outgoing transaction. Check out the full @DuneAnalytics dashboard here: dune.com/0xroll/arbitru…

zkSync Launches zkEVM

In a major milestone for Ethereum scaling, zkSync launched its zkEVM mainnet this week. This differs from past zk-rollups in that it is Ethereum-compatible, meaning that existing Ethereum projects can easily deploy there.

zkSync ∎ @zksync

gm zkEVM! 👋🏻 zkSync Era Mainnet Alpha is now open to all users. Developers, projects, and users can now experience the power of zkEVM. Read more: blog.matter-labs.io/gm-zkevm-171b1… 1/11

ZK-rollups are considered by many to be the future of Ethereum scaling and zkSync already has many projects lined up to launch there.

If you’re looking for a primer on zkSync, this thread goes into great detail:

francesco @francescoglt

1/33 @zksync Goes Live: A Revolutionary Zero-Knowledge Rollup Mainnet Launches 🧵👇

Tool for Catching Future Airdrops

The ARB airdrop has inspired many people to prepare for potential future airdrops.

One great tool I came across for this is airdrops.io. This site lists hundreds of confirmed and potential airdrops for you to explore.

DefiLlama Adds Active Addresses by Chain

DefiLlama added Active Users (addresses) by chain to their page of chain metrics.

This page now shows number of protocols, TVL, Active Addresses, Stablecoins, 24h DEX Volume, and Fees. It’s a great first place to go to see the stats on a chain.

Bitcoin Innovation Booms

Bitcoin DeFi is having its moment. In addition to Stacks, which I covered in last week’s issue, other important developments are being built on Bitcoin. This thread goes through new Ordinals innovations and the proposed NUSD stablecoin:

0xWink @wink_ollie

🚀📈 1/ Bitcoin is on the rise. Whilst many have been focusing on its safe haven status in these times of fiscal & political uncertainty. #Bitcoin has been innovating. Ordinals, BRC-20 contracts and NUSD (Nakadollar) have all been stirring the pot.. Let’s take a look 👀

The extraordinary growth of Ordinals has already had a major impact on the Bitcoin network:

Block sizes have skyrocketed

Surf @0xsurferboy

15/24 4️⃣ Effects on the BTC network 1. Skyrocketing block sizes A larger block size enables more transactions to be processed.. right? Logically yes, if the block is used for monetary transactions. But now, ordinals are gradually occupying more space.

Transaction fees for miners are up
Surf @0xsurferboy
20/24 3. More transaction fees for miners Ordinal inscriptions are netting miners more fees than normal which is heavily welcomed by miners. This drives demand for blockspace and creates pressure on the floor for average transaction fees
12:32 PM ∙ Mar 25, 2023

Reddit Launches Token-Gated Communities

Reddit is apparently experimenting with token-gated communities. These sorts of community-based tokens in existing online communities have the potential to onboard massive numbers of people to crypto.

jd ⬆️ @JackDaniel8008

Reddit is experimenting with token-gated communities? 👀 This type of stuff has huge potential! 🔥

Qualifying for the Layer Zero Airdrop

Now that the ARB airdrop is behind us, one of the most promising future airdrops is Layer Zero. This thread lays out how you might be able to qualify: