The overall quantity of ETH held throughout Layer 2 networks is dropping quick as falling L2 token costs wrestle to carry traders’ curiosity.
Ethereum reserves on Layer 2 networks look like dropping shortly, with information displaying that rollups like Optimism have seen their ETH volumes shrink by double-digit percentages over the previous few months.
Based on information shared Monday in an X publish by Michael Nadeau, founding father of The DeFi Report, ETH balances throughout L2s have declined round 25% in latest months.
“Specifically, ETH on Optimism is down 54% since March. It is down 17% and 14% on Arbitrum and Base,” Nadeau wrote.
Failed Vampire Assault
The sample marks a shift from the issues voiced in 2024, when some feared L2s had been harming Ethereum’s mainnet. Again then, payment income had dropped after the implementation of EIP-4844, included within the Dencun improve, prompting speak of a “vampire assault,” as L2s had been seen as draining customers and charges away from Ethereum.
“L2s are successfully stealing ETH customers & charges. By pretending they’re the ‘identical’ as ETH, however that would not be farther from the reality… at worst, it’s a vampire assault,” wrote Justin Bons, founder and CIO of crypto fund CyberCapital, in an X publish final August.
However now, ETH is leaving L2s in massive volumes. Based on information from L2Beat, Optimism’s bridged ETH provide fell from 1.12 million firstly of 2025 to about 566,000 as of mid-June, a 50% drop in simply six months.
Driving Drive
Nadeau says it’s nonetheless not clear what’s actually driving the sudden shift. In response to Nadeau’s publish, Coinbase’s Protocol Specialist, Viktor Bunin, steered that the plunge could be pushed by prime crypto trade Binance transferring funds out of Layer 2 networks again to the Ethereum mainnet.
Binance’s personal information appears to again up this principle. Per the centralized trade’s web site, the whole worth of staked Ethereum soared by greater than 20% over the previous 90 days.
On the identical time, Ethereum seems to be gaining energy whereas L2 tokens weaken. Over the previous 90 days, Optimism’s native token OP has fallen greater than 38%, Arbitrum’s ARB is down 21%, and ZKsync’s ZK misplaced 44%. ETH, however, has is up about 25% over the identical interval, sustaining features following its profitable Pectra improve final month.
The quantity of staked ETH has continued to interrupt new all-time highs in latest weeks.
As of June 15, the quantity of staked ETH hit an all-time excessive of 34.84 million ETH, up about 1% from final week’s all-time excessive. On-chain analyst @onchainschool additionally famous that accumulation addresses — wallets which have by no means offered — now maintain 22.8 million ETH, additionally an all-time excessive.
