Which one is better: ARB or MATIC? (2024)

Dive into the on-chain metrics of last months for Arbitrum and Polygon, two leading L2 scaling-solution blockchains for Ethereum, to make informed decisions. Get ready to understand dynamics of leading blockchain platforms in the evolving world of web3.

Today, web3 provides retail investors with ample opportunities to invest in cryptocurrency with an eye to receiving a substantial reward due to the growth in the value of this cryptocurrency.

Among the variety of cryptocurrencies, tokens of leading blockchain platforms are the optimal choice for long-term investment in cryptocurrency, based on a number of factors:

• Leading blockchain platforms like have well-established technologies and networks. These platforms have been around for several years, proving their stability and reliability.
• Platforms like Ethereum support a wide range of use cases beyond simple currency transactions. They enable the creation of smart contracts, decentralized applications (DApps), decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and more. This diversification of use cases increases the utility and value of the platform’s native token. In a word, they provide the very environment on which decentralized applications run.
• Tokens of leading blockchain platforms typically have high liquidity, meaning they can be easily bought or sold on various exchanges. High liquidity reduces price volatility and allows investors to enter or exit positions without significant slippage.
• Tokens of leading blockchain platforms are a good choice for long-term cryptocurrency investing because they provide volatility hedging mechanisms in the form of staking. Staking rewards typically offer stable and predictable returns compared to other forms of cryptocurrency investment. Staking allows cryptocurrency holders to earn passive income by participating in the network’s consensus mechanism. Instead of relying solely on price appreciation, stakers earn rewards for helping to secure the network.

However, we must not forget about the trivial Sturgeon’s law (or Sturgeon’s revelation). In accordance with this law,

most existing and launched blockchain platforms today will lose the battle for the audience and cease to exist.

There will be literally a few leading blockchain platforms that have proven their unique usefulness over time.

Therefore, it is very important not to succumb to marketing pressure, the frequency of mentions of cryptocurrency on social networks, the mind-blowing increase in the price of the token, and the like. Before making a long-term investment decision, it is important to monitor the dynamics of the “health” of the blockchain platform.

In this context, it is fundamentally important to gain insights into wallet activity, transaction volume and other on-chain metrics. This practice is called On-Chain Analysis. And when it comes to long-term blockchain investments, it seems to be more suitable than other techniques. Because in long term perspective, these metrics are less influenceable by market sentiments and speculators pressure. In the blockchain world, On-Chain metrics are a kind of real sector of the economy. From this perspective, if this real sector grows, then the economy of the blockchain project will grow. It has sense, hasn’t it?

Today we will try to figure out with assistance of On-Chain Metrics provided by https://blockchainmetrics.online which token from pair ARB and MATIC currently looks more attractive from the point of view of the long-term blockchain investment.

Arbitrum and Polygon are two leading L2 scaling-solution blockchains for Ethereum, undisputed authority in the industry. Based on observation, other L2 scaling-solutions for Ethereum are still lagging behind in the race for adoption and influence.

Both platforms host a rich ecosystem of decentralized applications.

In addition, thanks to the latest Dencun upgrade on Ethereum, transaction costs for conducting transactions have decreased globally on both platforms. Judging by the latest statistics (for May), the average transaction fee on both Arbitrum and Polygon is already noticeably lower than that of Solana, which has been the leader in this indicator for a very long time. This change in April significantly increased the accessibility of these platforms specifically for retail investors, giving a powerful impetus to the development of these blockchains.

Taking into account the ongoing price adjustment in the crypto market after the bullrun at the beginning of the year, it’s time to take a closer look at promising blockchain platforms. And Arbitrum with Polygon is just such a case.

ARB
Arbitrum is L2 expansion rollup (Optimistic Rollup) for Ethereum blockchain. It is a Layer 2 solution for the Ethereum blockchain, designed to improve the speed of transactions, increase scalability, and boost the network’s privacy. It allows users to perform transactions off the main network and has them verified and batched before being committed back to the main chain.
Whitepaper:
https://github.com/OffchainLabs/nitro/blob/master/docs/Nitro-whitepaper.pdf
Consensus: Optimistic Rollup L2
Offifcal site: https://arbitrum.io
Scanners: https://arbiscan.io
GitHub: https://github.com/OffchainLabs/arbitrum

MATIC
Polygon is a Layer 2 scaling solution platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Its core component is Polygon SDK, a modular, flexible framework that supports building multiple types of applications. Polygon allows developers to each launch their own custom Ethereum-compatible blockchain in a single click. Using Polygon, one can create optimistic rollup chains, ZK rollup chains, standalone chains or any other kind of infra required by the developer. Polygon’s mission is to leverage the Polygon network in order to create infrastructure that can handle the mass adoption of Ethereum.
Whitepaper: https://polygon.technology/papers/pol-whitepaper
Consensus: roof-of-stake (PoS), Plasma PoS
Offifcal site: https://polygon.technology
Scanners: https://polygonscan.com
GitHub: https://github.com/maticnetwork

Let’s begin from assessment of active wallets trend.

ARB
According to our data, the number of active wallets has increased by 43.66% in April compared to 31.19% in March and 0.33% in February. This indicates a clear upward trend. The total growth within 3 months from 161904 to current 305145 has 88.47%

Current value = 305 145 DAW / month
Growth within three months = 88.47%

MATIC
The average daily active wallets on the Polygon network have continued their upward trajectory, increasing by 43.66% in April. This trend suggests that the network continues to gain popularity among users, and it remains to be seen whether this will continue in the coming months.

Current value = 1 084 910 DAW / month
Growth within three months = 32.82%

From the point of view of the user base in absolute numbers, Polygon certainly looks more solid. Over one million active wallets per day is an impressive achievement. However, from the point of view of the dynamics of development of the user base, Arbitrum is superior to Polygon. Almost three times. Our goal is precisely to identify a more promising platform in terms of development dynamics at the current time.

ARB
The April total transactions metric on the Arbitrum network increased by 44.4% compared to the previous month. This indicates a positive trend in the activity on the network and suggests that the Arbitrum platform continues to gain popularity among users. And if we consider a three-month horizon, then since February this figure has increased from 22886306 to the current 50195659 transactions per month. This is an increase of 119.32%.

Current value = 5 0195 659 / month
Growth within three months = 119.32%

MATIC
April saw a decrease of 8.95% in the total transactions on the Polygon network. This may be a result of various factors. And over three months, the growth of this indicator amounted to a symbolic 4.6%. However, this does not mean that the network is underperforming. We should keep an eye on this metric as it may provide valuable insights into the network’s health and performance.

Current value = 125 276 570 / month
Growth within three months = 4.6%

Undoubtedly, the growth dynamics of transaction volumes in this period on the Arbitrum blockchain are significantly better than the growth dynamics on the Polygon blockchain.

ARB
During the last month, total fees on the Arbitrum network have increased by 27.87%. The total change over the past three months is 58.52%. This is a notable trend that merits attention and further investigation. It is related to the increasing popularity of Arbitrum and the broader adoption of DeFi ecosystem.

Current value = 7382.5279 ETH / month
Growth within three months = 107.1%

MATIC
In terms of the “total fees” metric for the Polygon network, the latest data shows an increase of 10.34% in April compared to March, when there was a significant 37.2% increase. In February, the metric increased by 20.13% compared to the previous month. This demonstrates a clear upward trend in total fees over the last three months.

Current value = 3277724.7653 MATIC / month
Growth within three months = 51.38%

According to the “total fees” metric, Arbitrum is twice as superior as Polygon. The dynamics of development of the “total fees” metric in the current period of time is fascinating.

Fees growth in native tokens is good, because it fosters incentive of the community and validators to participate in the development of the platform. But from the point of view of the average user, high fees in USD hinder activity. Users are not interested in increasing fees expressed in fiat currency. High transaction fees in USD value can stunt the development of any blockchain.

ARB
Over the past month, the average transaction cost on the Arbitrum platform in fiat was $0.4747. And this is 2.53% less than in the previous period. However, in February this figure was $0.438. Taking this into account, so far we have observed extremely negative dynamics in terms of transaction costs for end users.

Current value = $0.4747
Growth within three months = 8.37%

MATIC
In April, Polygon experienced a 12.83% decrease in average fee in USD. It is likely that it was influenced by several factors, such as changes in the market, and improvements in the scalability of the network. But in is worth noting that in February this indicator was $0.0167 only. Which means that during three months period end user of the platforms had to experience growth of transaction expenditures by 20.95%.

Current value = $0.0202
Growth within three months = 20.95%

Of course, from the point of view of absolute values, it may seem that Polygon has surpassed Arbitrum in this metric. Indeed, it is better to pay $0.0202 per transaction than $0.4747. But if we evaluate the change in the additional load on platform users, then Arbitrum users began to pay more by 8.37% over three months, while Polygon users by almost 21%. And here it is already clear that in this indicator too, the development dynamics of Arbitrum looks preferable.

ARB
We are observing a decrease in the total value locked (TVL) in dApps on the Arbitrum network for the month of April. The decrease is approximately -5.06% compared to the previous month. However, if to evaluate the three months horizon, that Arbitrum can even showcase a modest growth of 0.4%.

Current value = $188b
Growth within three months = 0.4%

MATIC
The TVL of the Arbitrum platform application ecosystem at the end of April was $37 770 240 667 and this is -27.49% worse than the value a month earlier. And in three months the figure completely decreased from $49 721 082 470, that is, by 24%.

Current value = $37.7b
Growth within three months = -24%

Currently, a serious drawback of the Arbitrum platform is the limited focus of the leading decentralized applications on this platform exclusively on the DeFi sector. In this regard, Polygon developers are paying much more attention to the development of a diverse landscape of decentralized applications. However, from the point of view of both absolute numbers and development dynamics for a specific period, the development dynamics of the Arbitrum application ecosystem are better.

Summary of key findings from the comparison of ARB and MATIC tokens.

The diagram clearly shows that from the point of view of on-chain metrics, the latest dynamics of development of the Arbitrum blockchain platform look much more preferable than the Polygon platform. Of course, this does not mean at the same time that Polygon’s development dynamics are bad. Or that the Polygon platform has poor prospects. The main conclusion from this analysis that a thoughtful observer should take away is that the Arbitrum developers competently manage the development of this blockchain, and it is no coincidence that it is currently the leader among other L2 solutions for Ethereum, as well as the fact that in the near future Arbitrum does not intend to lose its current high positions in the ranking of top dApps blockchains.

Implications of the analysis for investors considering investment in either token.

I further recommend thoughtful readers to conduct additional research on the ARB token using Technical Analysis, Sentiment Analysis or Economic Indicators analysis in order to assess the potential growth range of the ARB token and possible strategies. HOWEVER, please keep in mind that the content of this article is meant purely for entertainment and informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as financial, investment or any other professional or other advice. Please, mind that the content and information herein is given not to induce or to attempt to induce anyone to buy, sell or hold any token.

Visit blockchainmetrics.online for more analytical materials.

If you are interested in this topic, let’s explore it together.

Please, subscribe me.

Follow my X