The Ethereum ecosystem has reached a record-breaking high in transactions per second (TPS) due to a sudden surge in TPS on a lesser-known Ethereum layer 3 solution.
According to data from L2BEAT, the Ethereum scaling networks, which include layer-2 and layer-3 blockchains, achieved a combined 246.18 TPS on June 16, resulting in an estimated 21.2 million transactions throughout the day.
Of these transactions, over 41% occurred on Xai, a new Ethereum layer 3 scaling platform designed for gaming applications. Xai is powered by Offchain Labs, the company behind the Arbitrum One blockchain. Prior to June 10, Xai had a TPS of around 1 per day, but this number has been steadily increasing and reached 101.72 TPS on June 16.
Base and Arbitrum were the next two highest-ranking solutions, with approximately 33 and 21 TPS respectively on June 16. Proof of Play Apex, another gaming-focused Ethereum layer 3 scaling solution launched by Offchain Labs, came in fourth place.
Despite their high TPS numbers, the total value locked (TVL) in Xai and Proof of Play Apex is relatively small at $1.38 million and $695,000 respectively, compared to Arbitrum One and Base, the two largest Ethereum scaling solutions with TVLs of $18 billion and $7.6 billion.
Xai and Proof of Play Apex are currently ranked as the 45th and 50th largest TVLs in the Ethereum ecosystem, showcasing their high-speed scaling capabilities.
While some industry analysts argue that TPS is an overhyped metric for measuring blockchain performance, it remains a popular measurement tool. Steven Goldfeder, a founder at Offchain Labs, compared it to counting the number of bills in a wallet without considering their value, emphasizing that TPS may not be the only indicator of blockchain efficiency.
In a recent interview with Cointelegraph Magazine, Goldfeder discussed the relevance of TPS in the blockchain industry, raising the question of whether measuring TPS is still a relevant metric in 2024.