Quality Users: The Hidden Driver of Blockchain Success

A Cross-Chain Comparison of User Quality Metrics

If you have been reading our content lately, you can see that we are working to push the space forward — past vanity metrics towards deeper exploration of what truly makes an ecosystem tick.

The simple truth? Not all user activity is created equal.

We've been researching a more nuanced approach to measuring blockchain success through our User Scoring system. Our research consistently demonstrates that a small subset of highly engaged users (scoring 4+ on our 0-15 scale) generates exponentially more economic value than the vast majority of addresses. We call this the “double-inflection point”.

The Double-Inflection Point with Users Scores

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Let's explore how quality users impact different Layer 1 and Layer 2 ecosystems, comparing Ethereum, Base, Optimism, and Arbitrum.

The Fee Generation Power Law

Perhaps the most compelling case for focusing on quality users comes from examining fee generation:

% of Fees Generated by Quality Addresses

Across all four chains we analyzed, quality users generate a disproportionate share of fees:

• Base: Over 90% of fees
• Arbitrum: Approximately 85% of fees
• Optimism: 85-90% of fees
• Ethereum: 65-75% of fees

These numbers are even more staggering when you consider the small percentage of users on each of these chains that satisfy the quality benchmark (Flipside Score of 4+):

% Quality Users vs. Total

Despite driving most of the economic activity, quality users represent only:

• 15-18% of Ethereum's user base
• 20-35% of Arbitrum's user base
• 20-40% of Optimism's user base (with notable growth)
• 20-30% of Base's user base

This extraordinary concentration demonstrates the economic reality of blockchain ecosystems: a small minority of users drives the vast majority of sustainable value.

Quality Activity: Resilient Through Market Volatility

Not only do quality users make up the vast majority of fees, they remain active in the face of market volatility.

Quality DEX Volume by Chain vs. BTC Price

While price spikes trigger increased activity across all chains, only Ethereum and Base maintain elevated quality transaction volumes following these price events.

This resilience suggests that more committed user base continues to engage with the ecosystem regardless of market conditions, exactly what is needed for an ecosystem to survive in our turbulent industry.

The DEX Volume Quality Gap

The concentration of DEX activity among quality users further highlights this pattern:

Quality Users' Share of DEX Volume

Base and Ethereum consistently show that quality users contribute approximately 40-70% of total DEX volume, despite representing a small fraction of total users.

The trend here is becoming clear and obvious — Base is winning the L2 battle through a cultivation of a fervent, highly engaged community.

Quality Users' % of Active Swappers

Again, when charting Quality Users as a % of Weekly Active Swappers, Base stands out dramatically.

Well over 60% of active swappers qualify as quality users.

This is nearly triple Ethereum's 20-25% rate!

And, while Optimism shows growth toward 20%, Arbitrum lags significantly at less than 1%.

This metric may be one of the most telling indicators of ecosystem health.

Our research shows quality users have substantially higher retention rates than low-value users, making them crucial for maintaining consistent activity and fees.

6m Retention Rate with Confidence Intervals

Quality vs. Quantity: The Blockchain Growth Paradox

These findings highlight a fundamental paradox in blockchain growth marketing: while projects often chase headline numbers of millions of active users, the data clearly shows that only a small percentage of addresses contribute meaningful, sustained activity across major chains.

Traditional blockchain growth metrics often fail to capture the nuanced reality of ecosystem health.

By examining quality user metrics, we gain a clearer picture of which chains are building sustainable value versus temporarily inflated activity.

For ecosystem builders, the message is clear: focus acquisition efforts on users with high retention and engagement potential rather than maximizing raw address counts.

This Intelligence-Driven Growth approach prioritizes long-term ecosystem health over short-term vanity metrics.

In our next post, we'll dive deeper into Ethereum's ecosystem, examining how quality users - despite representing less than 20% of total users - dominate activity across all categories and drive the majority of economic value.

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