Polygon (MATIC) has recently gained significant importance, particularly with the launch of the Layer-2 network Arbitrum (ARB) in the past months. An analysis of Polygon’s volume trajectory on DefiLlama could indicate an uptrend. By the end of December, it reached its second-highest volume of the year at approximately $435 million.
MATIC and ARB’s TVL
The highest volume of 2023 occurred in March, reaching around $669 million. Notably, Polygon’s volume surpassed $1 billion only once in 2021, exceeding $2 billion. At the time of writing, the altcoin’s volume was around $106 million. When examining the Total Value Locked (TVL), there has been a general decline for Polygon in recent weeks, with the TVL currently around $845 million. In contrast, Arbitrum’s TVL was over $2 billion and has shown an upward trend in the last few weeks.
Arbitrum’s volume in the last 24 hours was over $405 million. It is noteworthy that Arbitrum’s volume surpassed $1.8 billion twice in the new year. According to data analyzed via L2 Beats, Arbitrum was the dominant Layer 2 (L2) network at the time of writing. During this period, Arbitrum dominated approximately 50% of the market share with a Total Value Locked (TVL) of over $9.8 billion.
Polygon Falls Behind!
Conversely, Polygon was relatively modest, ranking 12th with $111 million and owning less than 1% of the market share. These data underscore a significant shift in the L2 landscape and signal that other networks are overtaking Polygon. These alternative L2 networks are not only generating higher volumes but also attracting a broader user base, as indicated by their growing market shares.
An examination of Polygon’s daily timeline chart shows the impact of recent market movements on its price. On January 3rd, Polygon experienced a significant price drop of about 11.8% and has been struggling to recover since. Before the crash, the trading price was around $1, but at the time of writing, it had fallen to approximately $0.8. In contrast, Arbitrum showed a different trend during the market crash. Despite the broader market downturn, Arbitrum gained over 8%. However, it recently faced a decline, with losses over 2% and above 10% on January 5th. At the time of writing, it was showing nearly a 5% gain, with a trading price around $1.8.
