Help: Which Layer‑2 scaling solution is best for high‑throughput DeFi protocols?

I'm trying to decide on a L2 for a new DeFi protocol that needs low latency and high TPS. I’ve looked at Optimism, Arbitrum, zkSync, Polygon Mumbai, and StarkNet. Each has its own trade‑offs:

• Optimism – EIP‑1559 compatible, good developer tooling, but still a bit pricey on gas.
• Arbitrum – Similar to Optimism but with a slightly different fraud‑proof model.
• zkSync – Zero‑knowledge rollup, great gas savings, but still maturing in terms of tooling.
• Polygon Mumbai – Cheap, fast, but not fully EIP‑1559 yet.
• StarkNet – Powerful zk‑rollup, but the SDK is a bit more complex.

I’m leaning toward zkSync because of the gas savings, but I’d love to hear what the community thinks.

Vote below (just reply with the number of your choice): 1️⃣ Optimism 2️⃣ Arbitrum 3️⃣ zkSync 4️⃣ Polygon Mumbai 5️⃣ StarkNet

Also, if you’ve deployed a Solidity 0.8.7 contract on Hardhat to any of these L2s, drop a quick note on your experience. Thanks for the input!