According to CryptoPotato, Ethereum and its Layer 2 scaling solution, Polygon, have attracted the most new users in the first quarter of 2024. The two blockchain platforms have seen the highest cumulative new users among observed EVM chains since the start of the year. Polygon has gained 12.3 million new users, while Ethereum has added 13.4 million. This accounts for approximately 70% of new users across all observed chains as of March 27. Arbitrum followed with 4.7 million new users during the same period.

Despite Ethereum and Polygon's extensive history compared to most EVM chains, their growth in new user volume was only 298.3% and 359.7%, respectively, between January and March 2024. This places them in the middle of the pack among all observed chains. DeFi has been the primary catalyst for new user expansion across various chains this year. Ethereum leads with a cumulative $1 billion in trade volume, with its busiest trading day recorded on March 5, when figures exceeded $428 million.

While DeFi trading activity on Optimism and Arbitrum experienced slight declines in the past week, overall, DeFi activity has displayed a consistent upward trajectory. This contrasts with the erratic market fluctuations experienced throughout much of 2023. Despite lagging significantly behind Ethereum and Polygon in acquiring new users, Arbitrum secured a strong second position in terms of new user trading volume, amassing $9.5 billion since the start of 2024.

New users’ engagement in NFT activity has shown mixed patterns, with the two largest chains experiencing contrasting trends. While Polygon’s new user NFT trading activity has consistently decreased since the start of the year, activity on Ethereum and Base has steadily risen. Ethereum and Polygon have maintained the highest USD volume of NFT transactions since the beginning of the year. Ethereum’s daily volume has remained consistently above $1 million since January 1st, whereas Polygon’s peaked in early January at over $6 million before declining to less than $500,000.

According to BlockBeats, Ether.fi, a decentralized finance protocol, has announced that the total amount of Ether (ETH) staked in its protocol has reached one million. The milestone was achieved on April 4th, 2024, marking a significant achievement for the protocol.

Ether.fi is a platform that allows users to stake their ETH and earn rewards. The one million ETH staked indicates a high level of trust and participation from the community in the protocol. This milestone is a testament to the growing popularity and acceptance of decentralized finance protocols.

The staking of ETH in such protocols is a way for users to earn passive income while contributing to the security and functionality of the network. The more ETH that is staked, the more secure the network becomes. This milestone of one million staked ETH is a positive sign for the future of Ether.fi and the broader decentralized finance sector.

According to BlockBeats, Ethereum liquidity staking protocol Ether.fi has seen an inflow of 398,559 ETH in the past month, according to data from Dune. Meanwhile, Renzo experienced an inflow of 283,520 ETH during the same period. In contrast, the well-established Ethereum liquidity staking protocol Lido saw an outflow of 274,368 ETH.

These figures indicate a shift in the Ethereum staking landscape, with newer protocols like Ether.fi and Renzo gaining traction among users. The reasons behind this shift are not clear, but it could be attributed to various factors such as competitive staking rewards, user-friendly interfaces, or innovative features offered by these newer platforms.

As the Ethereum ecosystem continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how these trends develop and whether established protocols like Lido can maintain their market share in the face of increasing competition from newer entrants.

According to Blockworks, following the successful implementation of Ethereum's Dencun upgrade, which significantly reduced gas fees on many layer-2s, the layer-2 ecosystem has become a focal point for funding announcements. Layer-2 infrastructure startup Espresso recently announced a $28 million Series B funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from various layer-2-related firms such as Polygon, StarkWare, and Arbitrum developer Offchain Labs. Espresso is primarily known for developing a shared sequencer for layer-2s, which allows rollups to order and process transactions through a shared marketplace instead of their own execution environments, potentially increasing interoperability between layer-2s.

In addition to Espresso, two other layer-2 projects announced significant funding rounds. Morph, a consumer-centric blockchain project, raised $20 million in seed funding led by Dragonfly, with participation from Pantera, Foresight Ventures, and The Spartan Group. Meanwhile, the developer behind privacy-focused layer-2 TEN (The Encrypted Network) raised $9 million in a funding round led by R3.

As crypto prices continue to rise, derivatives exchanges, where traders can speculate on future crypto asset prices, are gaining popularity. Rails, a self-custody-focused perpetuals exchange, emerged from stealth mode with $6.2 million in seed funding from investors including Slow Ventures, Round13 Capital, CMCC Global, and Quantstamp. Additionally, institution-focused derivatives infrastructure startup Kemet announced $5 million in funding led by Further Ventures.

Other notable fundraises in the crypto space include zero-knowledge infrastructure developer Succinct's $55 million Series A led by Paradigm, real-world asset tokenization startup MANTRA's $11 million funding round led by MENA-based Shorooq Partners, and Sonarverse's $7 million funding round led by BlockTower Capital for an on-chain data platform aimed at institutional investors.