Base reaches another all-time high with 8.8 million daily transactions on its network

Base has reached another all-time high with 8.8 million daily transactions on its network, leading the optimistic rollup ecosystem while maintaining strong growth metrics across multiple indicators.

Transaction volume on competing networks also showed upward momentum, with Arbitrum and Optimism recording 2.5 million and 900,000 transactions, respectively.

Base's Total Value Locked (TVL) stands at $3.6 billion, supported by net inflows of $227 million over the past seven days, outpacing Solana's $71 million during the same period.

Network fees hit a three-month high of $766,000 on Nov. 28, reflecting increased demand for block space.

The surge in activity appears largely driven by growing interest in AI agent protocols, particularly the Virtuals platform:

• Virtuals Protocol is a decentralized platform that enables the creation, co-ownership, and monetization of AI agents across various digital environments, including gaming, entertainment, and social media. 
• Some major projects in the Virutals ecosystem include AIXBT and LUNA, both AI-driven agents that users can interact with. 

Base's growth reflects broader trends in Layer 2 innovation:

• The combination of rising transaction counts and TVL indicates sustained ecosystem development beyond speculative activity.
• Integration of AI functionality may represent a new narrative for Layer 2 differentiation and user engagement.

Another notable example emerged with  Freysa AI , an agent that is programmed never to hand money to the user. However, a user successfully completed the challenge, extracting $47,000 worth of crypto.

The Freysa AI challenge attracted 195 players who made 482 attempts, demonstrating significant engagement with AI agent mechanics. The platform implemented incremental query fees during the challenge, introducing a new revenue model for AI-crypto interactions. The Freysa AI incident highlights potential security challenges in AI-driven protocols, as similar methods can be used to hijack or influence other AI agents.

This is an excerpt from  The Block's Data & Insights newsletter . Dig into the numbers making up the industry's most thought-provoking trends.