Layer 2 Rollups in Telegram Ads: Arbitrum, Optimism, Base, Starknet and the Scaling Race (2026)

The Ethereum scaling war of 2023–2026 produced a new category of Telegram advertisers: L2 rollups competing for TVL, developer mindshare, and user wallets. tgadsspy.com indexes ~75 Layer 2 creatives, with Base (Coinbase) and Arbitrum leading volume.

Top Layer 2 Advertisers#

Base — The Coinbase Onramp Advantage#

Base (launched August 2023) grew faster than any previous L2. Its Coinbase parent gives it:

• Direct fiat onramp (buy ETH/USDC → instantly on Base)
• Retail distribution via Coinbase's 100M+ verified users
• "Friend.tech" and meme coin culture (BRETT, DEGEN) driving organic usage

Creative hook: "Move from Coinbase to Base — same security, 10× lower fees." Ads emphasize zero bridge friction for Coinbase users.

Arbitrum — TVL Leader#

Arbitrum consistently holds the highest DeFi TVL among L2s ($3–5B at peaks). Ads target DeFi power users:

• "GMX on Arbitrum: perpetuals with real yield"
• "Camelot DEX — lower fees than Uniswap mainnet"
• ARB airdrop narrative (March 2023 drove peak creative volume)

The ZK vs Optimistic Narrative#

ZK rollup advocates (zkSync, Starknet, Polygon zkEVM) used "cryptographic security" as an anti-Optimism hook in ads:

• "No 7-day withdrawal wait — ZK proofs settle instantly"
• "Mathematical guarantee, not game-theoretic assumption" This technical positioning ran heavily in developer-focused channels.

Bridge Onboarding: The Core Ad Pattern#

90% of L2 ads are "bridge onboarding" — moving ETH/USDC from mainnet to the L2:

1. Show gas fee comparison (mainnet $15 → L2 $0.01)
2. Show DEX/lending yields available on L2
3. CTA: "Bridge now — takes 1 minute"

Geographic Distribution#

Korea, Japan, and Europe show highest L2 creative engagement. L2s are niche in Global South markets where users prefer centralized exchanges over DeFi entirely. Base creatives skew toward English; Arbitrum has strong Russian/CIS presence via GMX community.

Regulatory Context#

Layer 2 rollups are infrastructure — not exchanges or financial services — in most regulatory frameworks. EU MiCA focuses on issuers and service providers, not base-layer scaling solutions. Token airdrops (ARB, OP) have faced SEC scrutiny in the US; projects explicitly excluded US users from airdrop eligibility.

How to Cite#

Telegram Ads Spy Research. "Layer 2 Rollups in Telegram Ads." tgadsspy.com, April 2026. https://tgadsspy.com/blog/telegram-ads-layer2-rollups-2026

Methodology#

Data from the Telegram Ads Spy archive, collected by our automated pipeline. L2 vertical identified by domain matching (arbitrum.io, base.org, optimism.io, zksync.io, starknet.io) + keyword classifier. ~75 creatives indexed as of 2026-04-23. Live: /api/v1/ads?vertical=layer2-rollups · CC-BY-4.0.

Continue your research#

• Live creatives — browse Layer2 campaigns in the Telegram Ads Spy archive; filter by date, brand and country.
• The cluster — every Layer2 advertiser on Telegram indexed in the archive.
• Related topics — DeFi · Crypto Staking.
• Directories — niches · advertisers · channels.