According to a report by the firm, the Arbitrum and Optimism blockchains show the strongest momentum in terms of users.

Crypto user activity is moving on-chain following the collapse of trading exchange FTX and its affiliated trading arm, Alameda Research, last month as self-custody comes back into vogue in the aftermath. Bernstein, one of the world’s largest independent research firms, said this in a recent report about their findings.

We’re seeing more investors storing their crypto in their own wallets instead of on centralized exchanges, which has led to higher trading volumes and user growth for decentralized finance (DeFi) spot and derivatives trading platforms. DeFi is an umbrella term for a variety of financial applications carried out on blockchains.

On the downside, it looks like the moving average is steady for user acquisition and activation. Gautam Chhugani and Manas Agrawal note that both revenue and the number of transactions have grown in the past 60 days but “activity on both fronts seems to be tapering off.”

While these are early trends, the shift to on-chain markets is a positive development in “the crypto community’s journey to rebuilding customer and policy-makers’ trust”, according to Bernstei.

The Arbitrum and Optimism blockchains are seeing the strongest user growth and revenue momentum since the FTX unwind, according to a note. “Increased user growth and transaction volumes indicate which blockchains improved their on-chain economic models,” the note said.

One of the most heavily-damaged chains is Solana, which was viewed as the native blockchain for FTX/Alameda. Users have moved to other chains following the demise of Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire.

The Binance Smart Chain has made modest gains in active users over the same period, the report stated.