Base, the tokenless blockchain by Coinbase, reached a new record for reported transactions. Despite lagging behind Solana, Base is carrying more than 19% of token launches, adding to overall activity.
Base is scaling, setting another record on overall transactions. The latest record is at above 7.3M daily transactions, compared to 1.19M for Ethereum, but still lagging behind Solana, with upward of 270M transactions on L1.
The success of Base is still relevant, as it remains one of the most scalable and liquid L2 with wide adoption and marketing. Base is also highly liquid, carrying more than $3.5M in stablecoins and second only to Arbitrum with $4.4B.
Base is also leading in the metric of throughput, measuring the complexity of transactions and tasks completed. One of the drivers for growth is the Aerodrome DEX, as well as other DeFi protocols.
In the past few months, Base saw stronger inflows of bridged ETH going into DeFi protocols. On busy days, up to $38M in ETH was bridged on busy days. As a result, Base now carries $2.89B in value locked, of which $1.39B is on Aerodrome, supporting high-velocity pairs. Aerodrome is also the main venue for inflows from Ethereum, matching the $1.39B in value locked.
Not all traffic on Base is high-value, as the chain aims for mass adoption. The chain also carries new token launches and meme sharing, as well as a form of task-based leaderboard through the Rewards.fun app.
NFT and social activity make up just around 7% of Base traffic. The chain’s main profile is still DeFi, centered around Aerodrome as a value and liquidity hub. However, the informal meme activity and low-cost NFT are part of the Base chain popularization efforts. Base carries apps like Hype, adding a tool for easy meme swaps, possible due to Base’s low fees of $0.0009 for most transactions.
Base carries around $3B in tokens, most of them versions of Ethereum or Solana memes. However, Base does not offer easy liquidity for new meme tokens. For that reason, most of the top Base tokens are from older meme periods. Base carries Degen (DEGEN), the Farcaster reward token, as well as gaming tokens for Heroes of Mavia (MAVIA). One of the newest memes is its native version of Mogcoin (MOG).
Base has not yet called for a native token, despite multiple incentives and point rewards. For now, activity on Base is not directly incentivized with the potential for an airdrop.
Base aims for optimized L1 rent
Base is part of the Optimism superchain, using optimistic rollups. With its technology, it’s closest to decentralization based on Vitalik Buterin’s criteria. However, Base is still considered a Stage 0 chain, not fulfilling the exit screen requirement.
The scalable chain relies on blobs, and still has to pay rent to Ethereum. However, Base can alter its blob posting schedule to optimize fees. As a result, Base generates $237.63K in daily fees, while only paying out $3.25K to Ethereum. Since the Dencun upgrade in March 2024, most of the leading L2 try to pay minimal rents to the main network. For the whole of October, Base achieved $4.05M in fees and $3.49M in total revenues.
Blob fees had several periods of competitive pricing, creating periods with more expensive blob space. L2 had to tweak their posting schedule to achieve free blobs. For now, Base has managed to stay below the zone of blob payments. However, if the chain aims to scale similar to Solana, its rent may increase.
In early November, L2 chains achieved blob space saturation on almost all days of the week. The fees were still relatively small, but L2 immediately changed their posting schedule to minimize rent.
