Ethereum users flock to Optimism for Aave liquidity mining launch

The Ethereum Layer 2 network announced the start of its latest liquidity mining program Thursday, part of what the chain is calling “OP Summer.” The project has allocated 5 million OP tokens to DeFi lending giant Aave for distribution to its users over the next 90 days.

Since the update went live, users have bridged hundreds of millions of dollars of tokens to Optimism and deposited them into Aave to earn additional OP tokens. The start of Aave liquidity mining has pushed the total value locked up an additional 27%. Optimism currently holds roughly $1.51 billion in total value locked, trailing only Arbitrum’s $2.48 billion in the Layer 2 race.