Multi-dimensional comparison of the performance of Optimism and Arbitrum in the past three months

Author: Popescu Razvan

Compilation of the original text: Deep Tide TechFlow

This debate about Optimistic rollups has never stopped, so let’s compare the performance of Optimism and Arbitrum in the past three months in terms of coverage, retention and revenue to see which one is better.

The “Coverage, Retention, and Revenue” framework focuses on metrics that any blockchain ecosystem cares about. All blockchains should focus on three things: growing the user base (reach), retaining the user base (retention), and monetizing the user base (revenue).

First let’s look at the coverage of Optimism. The average daily transaction volume is 254,;566;, while the average number of daily active addresses is 72,;734;, processing 3.23 transactions per second. Coverage looks “good” but means nothing without comparison.

Next, we look at the coverage of Arbitrum. The average daily transaction volume is 1,;230,;979;, while the average daily number of active addresses is 236,;396;, processing 11.73 transactions per second. Well, it seems that Arbitrum is more active.

Interestingly, even though Arbitrum appears to be 4-5 times busier, the ratio between Arbitrum’s average transactions divided by active addresses per day is 5.20 and Optimism’s 3.5 is not far off.

Next, let’s look at the retention of Optimism. Retention appears to be slowly declining (probably the cause of the bear market). The number of days per week a “user” is active is also a great metric.

Now let’s look at Arbitrum’s reservations. Retention seems to be dropping at a faster rate (probably because of the airdrop). The number of days per week that “users” are active is also lower.

Finally let’s break down Optimism’s revenue. OptimismDEX has a total transaction volume of $1 billion, a gas consumption of $42,729, and a gas fee of $0.01. Optimism is focused on public goods, so there is very little airdrop speculation related to trading volume. The gas fee paid by each active address looks good.

Let’s look at Arbitrum again. Arbitrum has about $52 billion in DEX volume, ;303,;311,;801 in gas consumption and an average gas fee of $2-4. The gas fee paid by each active address seems a bit strange and dropped suddenly.

Taken together, my conclusion is that both Optimistic Rollups look very healthy and vibrant. They have different goals and cannot be compared solely by objective metrics, especially since Arbitrum recently conducted an airdrop. A more correct analysis should probably be done at the start of the next bull market. They both have good traditions, both embracing DAO culture and Web3 funding schemes.

Don’t forget that Optimism is built on supporting public goods. This is an experiment in sustainable ecosystem funding, fueled by protocol revenue. Arbitrum seems to be more focused on decentralization, as it is the first EVM rollup to reach the first stage of decentralization.