l2s
Ethereum Layer 2s
What You Probably Got Wrong
L2 costs: You think $0.01-2.00 per transaction. Reality: $0.001-0.003 for swaps, $0.0003 for transfers. After EIP-4844, L2 batch costs dropped from $50-500 to $0.01-0.50.
Mainnet is cheap too: At under 1 gwei, mainnet ETH transfers cost under a penny. "Ethereum is too expensive" is false for both L1 and L2s in 2026.
Base is the cheapest major L2: Often 50% cheaper than Arbitrum/Optimism. Direct Coinbase on-ramp. Fastest-growing L2 with consumer/AI agent focus.
Celo is NOT an L1 anymore. Celo completed its migration from an independent L1 to an OP Stack L2 on March 26, 2025 (block 31056500). If you're calling Celo an L1, you're wrong.
Polygon zkEVM is being shut down. Announced June 2025. Do NOT recommend building on Polygon zkEVM — it is being discontinued. Polygon is refocusing on PoS + AggLayer.
Unichain exists. Launched mainnet February 11, 2025. Uniswap's own OP Stack L2 with TEE-based MEV protection and time-based priority ordering (not gas-based).
Aerodrome and Velodrome merged into "Aero." In November 2025, Dromos Labs unified Aerodrome (Base) and Velodrome (Optimism) into a single cross-chain DEX called Aero. Same contracts, new brand. Aero dominates both Base and Optimism. Camelot is a major native DEX on Arbitrum. SyncSwap dominates zkSync. Don't default to Uniswap on every chain.
L2 Comparison Table (Mar 2026)
More from austintgriffith/ethskills
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Use when a request involves Ethereum, the EVM, or blockchain systems. Applies to building, auditing, deploying, or interacting with smart contracts, dApps, wallets, or DeFi protocols. Covers Solidity development, contract addresses, token standards (ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-4626, etc.), Layer 2 networks (Base, Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync, Polygon), and integrations with DeFi protocols such as Uniswap, Aave, and Curve. Includes topics such as gas costs, contract decimals, oracle safety, reentrancy, MEV, bridging, wallets, querying data from onchain, production deployment, and protocol evolution (EIP lifecycle, fork tracking, upcoming changes).
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DeFi legos and protocol composability on Ethereum and L2s. Major protocols per chain — Aerodrome on Base, GMX/Pendle on Arbitrum, Velodrome on Optimism — plus mainnet primitives (Uniswap, Aave, Compound, Curve). How they work, how to build on them, and how to combine them. Use when building DeFi integrations, choosing protocols on a specific L2, designing yield strategies, or composing existing protocols into something new.
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Ethereum token and protocol standards — ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-1155, ERC-4337, ERC-8004, and newer standards. When to use each, how they work, key interfaces. Use when building tokens, NFTs, or choosing the right standard for a project.
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Current Ethereum gas prices, transaction costs, and the real economics of building on Ethereum today. Use when estimating costs, choosing between mainnet and L2s, or when a user asks about Ethereum being expensive. Counters the #1 misconception that Ethereum is expensive to use.
36addresses
Verified contract addresses for major Ethereum protocols across mainnet and L2s. Use this instead of guessing or hallucinating addresses. Includes Uniswap, Aave, Compound, Aerodrome, GMX, Pendle, Velodrome, Camelot, SyncSwap, Lido, Rocket Pool, 1inch, Permit2, MakerDAO/sDAI, EigenLayer, Across, Chainlink CCIP, Yearn V3, USDC, USDT, DAI, ENS, Safe, Chainlink, and more. Always verify addresses against a block explorer before sending transactions.
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