Weekly fundamentals – HMX, zkSwap, and DLN are now listed on Token Terminal!

New listings

HMX – a non-custodial exchange for perpetual contracts built on Arbitrum.

zkSwap Finance – a non-custodial Swap-to-Earn DeFi exchange protocol built on zkSync Era.

DLN – a cross-chain token bridge and trading infrastructure that enables the transfer of assets across blockchains.

Terminal PRO

Data-driven insights from analysts using Token Terminal PRO

Trader Joe's P/F ratio

Volume spike: Prediction markets

Excerpt from: "The fundamentals of zkSync"

"We’ve seen some L2s gain users due to token incentives and airdrops — which is not the same as organic product/market fit.

Does zkSync fall into this category?

Given that zkSync does not have a token just yet, many users will “farm for airdrops” by bridging assets and engaging with various projects. We can typically identify these “mercenary users” in the cohort data available via Token Terminal Pro.

Let’s have a look at user retention cohorts over the last 10 months:"

"The data here reveals a pretty sticky user base for those onboarded at the beginning of 2023. A quick rundown:

• 281k users onboarded in February with 31% remaining as monthly active users in December.
• 552k users onboarded in March with 30.7% still using zkSync through December.
• 1 million users were onboarded in April with the network retaining 20.7% through year end.

Between 100 and 700k users have been onboarded each month since April. Retention rates are now dropping slightly compared to earlier in 2023, but these are still impressive figures — especially when we consider the competition."

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Data Room

Handpicked insights from the Token Terminal Data Room

System transactions: Arbitrum vs. OP Stack

What
The share of system transactions within the total transaction count across Arbitrum, OP Mainnet, and Base. System transactions are operational L2 transactions that do not have any associated fees. Examples of system transactions include Arbitrum and OP Mainnet block update transactions.

During Q4, Arbitrum recorded a higher number of transactions compared to OP Mainnet and Base, with respective counts of 29.6m for Arbitrum, 4.0m for OP Mainnet, and 4.1m for Base. A significant portion of Arbitrum's total transactions were system transactions. Specifically, 28.6% of Arbitrum's transactions were system transactions, in contrast to 12.8% for OP Mainnet and 12.0% for Base.

Why
OP Mainnet and Base share a similar architecture and exhibit a similar volume of system transactions. The main reason contributing to a higher proportion of system transactions in Arbitrum is attributed to its shorter block times. System transactions occur with every new block. In Q4, the average block time for Arbitrum was approximately 270ms, whereas for both OP Mainnet and Base, the block times have been set to 2s.

So what
Pure onchain metrics often contain considerable noise, potentially leading to incorrect assumptions. As we see above, solely looking at transaction counts misses part of the picture. Therefore, when analyzing onchain data, it's crucial to understand the nature of transactions and the underlying architecture.

Raw and decoded onchain data from 14 chains, accessible via Google BigQuery. Explore our Data Room offering: https://tokenterminal.com/product/data-room

Changelog

New metrics

• AFPU (Average Fees Per User) is a measurement of how much fees the average user generates.
  • AFPU is calculated as fees divided by number of users, sourced from onchain data.
  • The metric works as a proxy for the fees generated by one user. It helps us understand user behavior.
• ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) is a measurement of how much revenue the average user generates.
  • ARPU is calculated as revenue divided by number of users, sourced from onchain data.
  • The metric works as a proxy for the value generated by one user. It helps us understand behavior.

Smart contract labels

Labels make it easier for analysts to understand which market sectors, projects, and contracts drive usage on a blockchain.

• Tron: 1000 new labels
• zkSync Era: 150 new labels
• Manta Pacific: 818 new labels
• Ethereum: 290 new labels

Explore trending contracts: https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/contracts/trending

ICYMI

Fundamentals podcast

Manta Network – Modular innovation, Celestia DA, ZK apps, New Paradigm, and more | Fundamentals ep.84

Research

The fundamentals of zkSync

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