Flipside, a blockchain analytics startup, reported that both blockchains have over 15 million acquired users each, with Bitcoin coming in third place with 10.65 million members.
According to blockchain analytics firm Flipside, Layer-2 scaling network Polygon nearly attracted the same number of cryptocurrency users as Ethereum in 2023.
Just 15.24 million users were added to Polygon in 2023—roughly 160,000 fewer than Ethereum’s 15.4 million users—as an Ethereum scaling solution.
On a specific blockchain, Flipside defined an acquired user as someone who completed at least two transactions, at least one of which occurred in 2023.
It’s interesting to note that Ethereum finally passed Polygon in the first half of 2023, maintaining its lead for the duration of the second half of the year.
“Polygon began the year with an astounding 2.8MM new members in January, which represents more than 40% of the network’s total new members in 2023,” according to Flipside.
After that, Polygon saw a constant fall in monthly user acquisition throughout the course of the year, albeit it was still competitive when compared to more other networks.
With 10.65 million acquired users, Bitcoin ranked third, followed by Solana and Arbitrum in the top five.
Optimism, Avalanche, Base, and the other eight tracked blockchains recorded 62 million acquired users in total. According to Flipside, the number of new users recruited peaked in May and then progressively decreased after that.
“The rise in acquired users started in March, in line with Silicon Valley Bank’s failure, which could have caused people to lose faith in centralised organisations and turn to decentralised custody options,” the company stated.
According to Flipside, Base had a great start after launching in August 2023, but in the last few months of the year, its user base “tampered off.”
“Considering that these networks had more robust, diverse app ecosystems to interact with, renewed enthusiasm across more established chains near the end of the year may have contributed to the decline in Base’s user growth,” the company said.
Nonetheless, considering Coinbase’s ambitions to act as a crypto gateway for new customers, the upcoming bull run might be good for Base’s user growth.