Ethereum Mainnet to scale to 10,000 TPS by 2031 via L2 networks, GrowThePie predicts

Ethereum’s Layer 2 (L2) ecosystem is rapidly expanding, accelerating the network’s transition to scalability. GrowThePie, a crypto analytics platform, predicts that the Ethereum Mainnet may reach 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) by 2031, driven by the growth of L2 solutions.

According to GrowThePie, Ethereum Mainnet processed an average of 18.6 TPS last month. To achieve its target of 10,000 TPS, the network must increase throughput by approximately 537 times its current level. Since its launch in 2015, Ethereum’s scaling improvements have increased throughput from 0.71 TPS to 18.6 TPS, a remarkable 26.2x increase.

Arbitrum One’s growth highlights the surge in Ethereum L2 activity. Between May and November 2025, Arbitrum recorded 3.56 million transactions, 242.78K active addresses, and maintained a stablecoin supply of $7.91 billion. Additionally, it secured a total value of $16.34 billion and achieved $363.71K in revenue, with a notable $361K in on-chain profit.

Arbitrum One dominates decentralized finance (DeFi), accounting for 28.93% of DeFi transactions and 21.22% of utility applications. Overall, it contributes to 14.88% of total Ethereum transactions, signifying its role in cross-chain connections within the ecosystem.

On-chain data reveals that Optimism Mainnet consistently demonstrates growth across key metrics. Between August and November 2025, Optimism reported 38.5K active addresses, 2.03 million transactions, and an average throughput of 8.3 Mgas/s. The network secured $2.75 billion in total value, maintained a stablecoin supply of $653.67 million, and earned $142.48K in app income.

This underscores the ETH Layer 2 ecosystem gaining momentum, with Optimism complementing other solutions like ZKSync.

ZKSync has set new benchmarks for Ethereum scalability. Co-founder Alex Gluchowski announced that the ZKSync Atlas improvement will enable nearly zero costs, 15k+ TPS, and 1-second ZK finality. He elaborated that Atlas reduces L1-to-L2 interoperation latency below Ethereum block’s finality time, and L2-to-L2 latency to around 1 second.

Gluchowski emphasized this makes Ethereum a liquidity center for institutional transactions, eliminating the need for separate liquidity hubs. The protocol’s advancements gained recognition from Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, who highlighted its valuable contributions to the ecosystem.

GrowThePie projects that Ethereum Mainnet will accelerate its scalability by 3x annually, eventually surpassing 10,000 TPS by the end of the decade. The Ethereum network has steadily enhanced its capacity and efficiency while maintaining its hallmark values of security and decentralization.

Currently, Ethereum records an average of 499.1 TPS, with an all-time high of 5,513 TPS and a 24-hour peak of 4,343 TPS. Compared to L2 networks, Ethereum Mainnet’s transaction fees remain higher at $0.7023 per transfer, whereas L2s cost only $0.0031.

The Ethereum ecosystem demonstrates strong on-chain performance, with application revenue rising to $41.8 million, of which 15.73% originates from Layer 2 networks. Additionally, L2s contribute 7.77% to the stablecoin supply, which has surged to $188.6 billion. Despite these gains, inefficiencies in token transfer fees persist across both Mainnet and L2s.