Arbitrum (ARB -2.41%) is among the leading large-cap cryptocurrencies in the market this week. As of 1:45 p.m. ET, Arbitrum has surged 27.2% since last Friday's close and is one of the only top cryptos to have reached a fresh all-time high this past week.
For mega-cap cryptos, it's been a rather ho-hum week. Bitcoin (BTC -1.84%) and Ethereum (ETH -0.13%), for example, ended the week up 3.7% and down 3.4%, respectively. Hence, the outsize interest in names like Arbitrum.
Here's what investors are watching closely when it comes to this Layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution right now.
Arbitrum passes Ethereum in decentralized exchange volume
The big headline that drove an incredible amount of interest in Arbitrum relative to other top cryptos over the past week is a surge in decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume on the Arbitrum network. Earlier today, Arbitrum pushed past Ethereum to process a 24-hour trading volume of $1.83 billion, making this the leading platform in terms of daily DEX volume.
Arbitrum's surge in trading volume was very noticeable, with overall volume increasing more than 32% over the past week. Ethereum's corresponding volume dropped nearly 5% over the same period. Arbitrum's infrastructure, which includes using optimistic rollups to improve speed, scalability, and cost on its network, appears to be striking a chord with traders. In the highly competitive market for DEX market share, Arbitrum is not so quietly rising in the ranks.
To make things better, Arbitrum also announced record-high total value locked (TVL) metrics this week. The project's overall TVL surged past the $2.5 billion mark for the first time, surpassing Layer-1 network Solana (SOL -4.48%) in the process.
Additionally, Orbit (a Layer-3 project providing developers with the ability to build applications on Arbitrum) announced this week that ARC-20 tokens can now be used for transaction fees. This added benefit for Orbit's individual blockchains and corresponding decentralized applications appears to be spurring overall ecosystem growth for Arbitrum.
What now?
Arbitrum appears to be firing on all cylinders. The network's lower-cost, higher-throughput ecosystem is clearly one developers are looking to build upon and users are flocking to. So long as these fundamental metrics continue to improve, this project could certainly continue to see momentum well into 2024.
Now, some of Arbitrum's transaction volume surge can be attributed to a meme token-driven frenzy in recent months. Most conservative investors wouldn't bet the farm on that continuing, and at some point, I think the fuel this catalyst is providing will run out.
That said, Arbitrum's infrastructure and value as a scaling solution are being validated in a big way by the market. For those betting on growth within the Ethereum ecosystem (with the majority of the spoils in terms of volume going to scaling solutions like Arbitrum), this is a crypto to keep your eye on.
