Aztec has ranked first among Layer 2 blockchains for developer activity over the past 30 days, according to data from Santiment, displacing previous leaders in a competitive ecosystem that includes Starknet, Optimism, and Arbitrum.
The on-chain analytics firm's ranking captures engineering momentum across the most active scaling solutions. Starknet secured second place, followed by Optimism in third, Arbitrum in fourth, and zkSync in fifth. The list also included Cartesi, Immutable X, Fuel Network, Scroll, and SKALE rounding out the top ten, signaling sustained development across zero-knowledge proofs, optimistic rollups, and modular execution layers.
Developer activity metrics serve as a leading indicator of network health and competitive positioning within the fragmented Layer 2 landscape, where multiple protocols compete for liquidity and user adoption. The shift in rankings reflects ongoing development cycles and protocol upgrades as chains vie for dominance in transaction throughput and ecosystem expansion.