Ethereum [ETH]: Investors return to L2 bridges; zKSync, StarkNet addresses swell

ambcrypto.com:

Over the last few months, layer two (L2) protocols on the Ethereum [ETH] blockchain have gained noteworthy recognition. Needless to say, a project like Optimism [OP] sustained being the star among many. It dominated the last quarter of 2022 and also in early 2023.

However, Arbitrum [ARB] has displaced OP from the top spot following its AirDrop distribution, and upcoming token listing on several exchanges. In turn, the hype that has surrounded the Arbitrum project seems to have triggered reactions to interactions with similar protocols.

According to Nansen , token swaps and ETH bridges on protocols like zkSync and StarkNet tremendously increased last week. 

These projects are similar in function to both Arbitrum and Optimism. However, StarkNet and zkSync differ from OP and ARB as the former are not Optimism rollups like the latter group.

Instead, StarkNet and zkSync are zero-knowledge (zk) rollups whose aim is to enable any decentralized Application (dApp) to operate at an unlimited scale.

Information from the blockchain data and research platform showed that about 39,000 addresses bridged $871 million to zkSync within the said period.

Source: Nansen

The rise in interaction could be attributed to a possible AirDrop that users might get when they launch a token associated with the projects. 

However, zkSync has not confirmed that a token would come along with its several upgrades. But it would seem that these addresses are taking no chance if the projects announce a reward.

Interestingly, zkSync has had quite a number of integrations in March. On-chain data services OKLink launched its explorer on the future-proof zk Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) . Also, immersive gaming project Horizon Land collaborated