zkSync On-Chain Data Interpretation: The True User Scale of ZK Rollup

zkSync's real user scale shows a "strong start followed by declining momentum" pattern: total on-chain addresses have exceeded 1 million, but user activity is highly dependent on incentive programs, and the retail-focused DeFi ecosystem has shrunk drastically after subsidy schemes were terminated. Current zkSync is analogous to a Layer 2 network undergoing an "engine swap": retail users are exiting rapidly, and it remains unproven whether institutional business use cases can take over to sustain network activity. Below we break down step by step how to evaluate its real user scale and ecosystem health via on-chain data.

1. Evaluate Active Users: 520,000 Daily Active Users vs 1.16 Million Total Addresses, What Does This Gap Mean?

Core goal: Pull total user count and active user count of zkSync, compare the difference between the two metrics, to judge whether users leave after one single interaction or stay for long-term use.

How to perform the check:

Open the zkSync dedicated dashboards on Dune Analytics or Token Terminal, and query the following two sets of data:

• Total user addresses: Dune data shows that the number of user addresses on zkSync Era that have bridged funds into the network has exceeded 1.16 million. Additional statistics show that unique users that have completed at least one bridge transaction on zkSync have surpassed 2.7 million.

• Daily active users: Token Terminal data indicates zkSync's daily active unique sender count stands at around 520,000, which has increased 148% over the past 3 months, lifting its active user market share in the L2 track from 30% to 54%.

Note the gap between the two figures: Only around 520,000 of the 1.16 million total addresses are actively using the network. This means over half of the addresses are either one-time interaction users or dormant wallets. Combined with earlier data that over 71% of user wallets were created within one year, and nearly 60% of addresses bridged in less than 0.1 ETH, we can conclude that a large share of users were attracted by low-cost onboarding experience and airdrop expectations, rather than long-term committed users.

Completion criteria: You can clearly state zkSync's current total address count and daily active user volume, and understand what the gap between the two metrics represents.

Prerequisite: Access to the zkSync dashboards on Dune Analytics or Token Terminal.

Common mistake to avoid: Only looking at total address count while ignoring user activity rate. A total address count over 1 million sounds impressive, but the 520,000 daily active user figure means there is still large room for improvement in user retention, and the key trend to track is whether this retention ratio is rising or falling.

2. Evaluate TVL and Transaction Volume: What Do Severe Data Fluctuations Indicate?

Core goal: Track zkSync's total value locked (TVL) and DEX trading volume, to judge the actual activity level of funds on the network.

How to perform the check:

Query zkSync related data on L2BEAT or DefiLlama:

• TVL performance: zkSync Era's TVL once reached around $569 million in July 2026, with an 11% 7-day growth. But just a few weeks later, the figure dropped below $473 million, marking a 7-day decline of 18.13%. The cross-chain bridge TVL of zkSync stands at around 1 million ETH (approximately $19.4 billion).

• Retail DeFi ecosystem contraction: After zkSync terminated its "Ignite" incentive program, on-chain activity dropped in line with the end of subsidies. Leading lending protocol Aave has proposed to shut down its market on zkSync Era: the reason is that the market only generated $714 in fee revenue for 30 consecutive days, while its market on Base generated $300,000 in the same period, and the corresponding figure on Ethereum mainnet reached as high as $7.7 million. At present, the total TVL of its public DeFi ecosystem is only around $15 million, while the TVL of leading retail-focused L2 networks generally reaches tens of billions of dollars.

Completion criteria: You can clearly explain that zkSync's TVL is highly volatile and heavily dependent on incentive programs, and distinguish that "cross-chain bridge TVL" and "DeFi ecosystem TVL" are two completely different metrics.

Prerequisite: Access to zkSync data pages on L2BEAT or DefiLlama.

Common mistake to avoid: Mistaking the $19.4 billion cross-chain bridge TVL for zkSync's DeFi ecosystem TVL. Assets held in cross-chain bridges are only passing through the network, not funds that are actively used for on-chain DeFi activities.

3. Evaluate User Quality: Retail vs Institutional, Who Is Actually Using The Network?

Core goal: Analyze the user structure on zkSync, to judge whether the network is dominated by retail users or institutional users, and track what changes are taking place in this structure.

How to perform the check:

Query address labeling data on Nansen or Dune:

• Historical retail-dominated user profile: Early data shows that most of the deposits transferred from Ethereum mainnet to zkSync Era came from wallets with cumulative deposit amounts lower than $1,000. This proves that zkSync's early user base was primarily retail users.

• Institutional use cases are replacing retail activity: The zkSync team has officially announced a strategic shift, shifting its focus from retail DeFi to serving traditional financial institutions. Currently, Deutsche Bank has built a private Layer 2 network on zkSync's Prividium suite, the Tradable platform has hosted $1.7 billion in private credit products on zkSync, and the city of Buenos Aires in Argentina has migrated the digital identity system covering all 3.6 million citizens to zkSync Era.

Completion criteria: You can clearly describe that zkSync is undergoing a structural shift where retail users are exiting and institutional users are entering, and list existing institutional use cases that have already been deployed on the network.

Prerequisite: Follow zkSync's official blog and third-party on-chain analysis reports.

Risk warning: The rollout speed of institutional use cases may lag behind the exit speed of retail users. If bank pilot programs cannot scale up rapidly, the network may enter an activity "vacuum period".

Next step for your own verification:

Spend 15 minutes today on this task: Open DefiLlama, find the TVL trend chart of zkSync Era, observe the overall trend from the start of 2026 to the present, to see if it is continuing to decline, or has stabilized at a certain range. Meanwhile, compare the $569 million TVL figure on July 6 and the $473 million figure on July 24, check if the latest native token price fluctuation and TVL fluctuation are synchronized. If the TVL stabilizes and starts to rebound, it indicates that the strategic transition may start to deliver results; if the TVL continues to drop, it proves that institutional business has not yet filled the gap left by the retreat of retail users.