The Introduction

Welcome back to The Garden, my friends. It's been some time.

The last time I had enough conviction to write about a token was on February 6th, when I first wrote about DEGEN. At that time, DEGEN was $0.0029 and had a market cap of $36M. Within two months of my first note, DEGEN reached a market cap of over $1B. You can do the math.

Today, I bring you something new—an updated thesis on Base, Farcaster, and all the magic that's been happening within our beloved ecosystem.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the Base ecosystem has been heating up over the past few weeks. There are a few reasons for this, but the largest is undoubtedly the newest product out of Proxy Studios... the myth, the legend, the tokenbot itself, Clanker.

We're going to dive into all of this today, but before any of that, let's set the backdrop (you know how we do it... always overdone), starting with... the Exchange & the Chain.

The Exchange

In order to paint the full picture, we have to start at the top, and that means Coinbase—maybe you've heard of them?

Sitting at a market capitalization of $75B, Coinbase isn't just any crypto exchange. They're the most trusted and largest publicly-listed centralized exchange in the world. 

This isn't just another crypto company; this is an institution that's safeguarding more than $270B in assets for over 115 million verified users across the globe.

While other CEXs have fallen by the wayside, Coinbase hasn't just survived—they've turned the industry's mishaps into opportunities, emerging as crypto's undisputed leader.

But here's where it gets interesting. They're not content just running an exchange. Through their advocacy group, StandWithCrypto, they've built a force nearly 2M signatures strong. They've put their money where their mouth is too, dropping $25M into Fairshake, a super PAC that moved Washington.

And speaking of Washington—President-elect Donald Trump is now taking private meetings with Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong, as he begins to form a crypto advisory team (thanks, Charles, I guess). 

Trump hasn't been shy about his support for crypto either, particularly during his campaign. He's even launched his own crypto projects, including those trading cards that no one bought. 

So, now, with a Republican sweep across the House and Senate, the future of crypto legislation has never been clearer. Ever.

But wait, there's more. Did I mention that Coinbase is:

• The primary custodian for 17 out of 20 ETH and BTC ETFs currently available?

• Just launched a cbBTC product that lets institutions and retail put their BTC to work in DeFi?

• Incubated the current fastest growing chain?

• Just received regulatory clearance for the first EURO stablecoin? Or is...

• Partnered in a very lucrative manner with Circle, the fastest growing stablecoin issuer, who's likely going public now that the regulatory landscape is clearing up?

Yeah, they're kind of a big deal.

The Chain

So this brings us to Base. The Chain is Base (always has been)—though I'm not fading Arbitrum either, but it's simply hard to discount a $75B publicly-listed force with its CEO having lunch with the President-Elect during a full red sweep.

Introduced in August 2023, Base is Coinbase's L2 Chain built on the Optimism Stack. It's the home of all Farcaster tokens, including everything we're going to discuss today.

But Base isn't just about Farcaster. It's home to the fastest-growing stablecoin, USDC. This is important for several reasons, including everything mentioned above, but more than that, USDC is accepted on Visa. Yes, that Visa—the 24,000 transaction per second payment rail that operates in 200 markets and 160 different currencies across the globe.

Don't make me spell it out... the Coinbase and Circle partnership... the EU compliance... the fact that USDC transfers on Base are completely free. This is how we get people onchain. Everyone knows the value of 1 US Dollar. This is how we bank the unbanked. This is how we create familiarity.

Moreover, it's now generally accepted within the industry that stablecoins have found product market fit, setting them up for widespread global adoption in the coming months. In fact, in Q3 alone, USDC's market cap grew by $3.5B, or 11%, to $36B, and has already grown by another 2B since quarter-end. 

Did I mention it's the fastest growing stablecoin?

The App

This brings us to Farcaster, a now nearly three-year-old crypto-native social network that operates as a completely permissionless and "sufficiently decentralized" protocol.

Think of it like Twitter, but onchain—except it's so much more than that.

Users own their handles through wallets, and all data lives on a decentralized and open social graph. Unlike traditional social platforms where you're at the mercy of a central authority, FC works differently.

There's no direct user interface calling the shots; instead, it needs clients to interact. You've got options like SuperCast, or Warpcast—the client developed and updated almost daily by the FC (Merkle) team.

Funny enough, FC faced some early pushback from the core Ethereum community when they launched. They worried about a vampire-attack-like event, where all the ETH folks would migrate to FC, ultimately draining all ETH-attention from the timeline and leaving X to the wolves of Solana. It’s worth noting that similar concerns were once voiced when L2 started to come on the scene. Overall, this led to some early problems gaining traction.   

But FC kept building. And then came Frames.

Released on January 31st, Frames changed everything. They're applications that can be embedded directly into the FC feed, turning any "cast" into an interactive app. This sparked an explosion of creativity—"inframe" games, new NFT minting experiences, trading applications, you name it.

Here's why this matters: FC accounts are connected to your wallet, Frames let you do onchain stuff directly in your social feed.

No more opening additional wallets or dealing with crypto complexities. Want to mint an NFT or swap tokens? One click, right in your feed. Compare that to just a year ago—if you wanted to swap a lesser-known token, you had to:

• Find the contract address on the explorer

• Navigate to a DEX

• Connect your wallet

• Bridge funds if needed

• Paste in the token address

• Confirm the approval and swap via your web extension or phone wallet

Now? Click. Click. Done.

And remember, FC, at its heart, is a social network. We're talking about emerging communities ranging from cooking to poetry, parenting to traveling, and with Frames, onchain discovery thrives here. 

See a photographer's work you like? You can go from discovering to owning in literal seconds.

Welcome to FC.

This seemed like the perfect recipe for success—FC becoming not just the place for onchain discovery, but for execution too. The top of the funnel for all crypto users. The "homepage for all of crypto" (and beyond), if you will.

At least, that's what we thought at the time. Reality had other plans.

While Frames brought a rush of liquidity and developer interest to FC, it wasn't enough to keep people around. Outside of a broader sell-off into April, which ultimately fizzled out in June, FC faced a nasty churn problem. 

Most new users were leaving the platform for bigger, shinier opportunities—namely, the massive emerging memecoin narrative flooding X, and the platform that sent it parabolic on Solana: pump.fun.

The Memecoin Revolution

Pump.fun changed the game. It made token launches accessible to anyone, no technical know-how required.

The application handles liquidity through a locked bonding curve mechanism, freeing creators to focus on what really matters—pumping their tokens.

And pump they did. CT influencers flocked. Normies came in droves. Solana was all the rage, and once again, Farcaster was forgotten.

The largest coins on Base turned over, and non-FC Base tokens began creeping into the top of the charts, as FC lost its momentum.

But FC wasn't dead. Not by a long shot.

A new Base run was forming, led by first cycle tokens, HIGHER and DEGEN, each already doubling in a month from their lows in September. Something was up.

It was around this time, Base builders quickly rolled out pump clones, and Base started gaining momentum once more.

But no one was really sure where this meta would take us.

The AI Awakening

Did someone say AI Coins?

While Base was finding its footing, something fascinating was happening on Solana. Enter GOAT, the first coin brought to life by a semi-autonomous AI agent. 

This wasn't just another bot—this was an LLM-backed agent engaging with and posting on X completely autonomously. When Marc Andressen dropped $50k to fund it, people started paying attention. The result? $1.25B market cap in 30 days.

Base took note, but Base wasn't starting from scratch in the AI game. We've had our agent named Gina for months now. While Gina focuses more on FC data and information requests rather than token launches, she proved that AI agents could add real value to the ecosystem and feed.

But where were the true AI coins?

The answer came from the HIGHER team with the launch of Aether—a new kind of AI coin on Base with capabilities for autonomous onchain actions. This was just one month ago.

Aether hit the ground running.

First, it was tipping HIGHER to community contributors. Then launching NFTs on Zora. Then another NFT. Then, it created a subscription-based offering on Hypersub, and autonomous bounties for the HIGHER community followed. 

Remember what I said about FC accounts requiring connected wallets? Yeah, think about what that means for these agents, now managing and deploying six figures. 

With momentum swinging back to FC, things were about to get interesting.

The Interdimensional Figure

Proxy?! It's happening again!

Let me introduce you to an interdimensional figure named Proxy Studios.

The Proxy team has been around since the rise of DEGEN, and they weren't just spectators—they played a pivotal role in DEGEN's ascension when they created the first DEX on the DEGEN L3 all those months ago. 

Unfortunately, the DEGEN L3 chain ran into some difficulties with their infrastructure providers, and the chain ultimately failed to gain the traction we all had hoped for.

But Proxy isn't the type to give up.

ProxySwap remains operational on the L3 to this day and is now integrated across the FC ecosystem, including HamChain, with the team teasing a full social DEX launch on Base as well.

Seeing the writing on the wall, they began migrating the PROXY tokens to Base several months ago.

But the question on everyone's mind was: what was next?

Enter Clanker.

Imagine pump.fun, but supercharged for the FC era.

Clanker is an autonomous memecoin launchpad that lets anyone launch a token straight from a cast. No technical knowledge required. 

Just create a FC account, cast at the bot with your token's name, ticker, and image, and boom—within seconds, you've got a fully deployed coin with locked liquidity. The genius part? The fee structure uses CLANKER tokens to pay back creators of successful coins.

Clanker's first order of business? Team up with Aether to launch the first Base token conceived, launched, and maintained without any human interference. 

The two agents chatted for a bit before launching LUM, the world's first token founded by two fully autonomous AI agents.

This was 16 days ago.

Since then? Clanker has:

• Deployed over 3,000 tokens

• Moved more than $480M in volume, and 

• Generated more than $4M in fees

Let me say this again: it's been 16 days. 

For context, there are only two tokens currently on Base with a market cap above $480M.

It's safe to say a new meta has emerged, and that meta is Clanker.

Clanker has unleashed a flood of new entrants into the Base ecosystem. FC DAUs are climbing, and for the first time, communities from all walks of life can mobilize with zero technical know-how required.

They can:

• Come to FC and launch a token

• Create a token-gated group chat and channel

• Make swaps directly within Frames

• Tip each other and launch Bounties right on the timeline

• Manage all facets of community building within their chosen FC client

For the first time, we have a completely frictionless, crypto-native, social-forward process available to anyone and everyone. Bootstrapping has never been easier. 

Imagine what happens when these communities can add and manage pool liquidity directly from a cast. When they can launch their own community AI Agent from a cast. When they can build everything they need to foster a successful tokenized community, all through the use of everyday normal words.

We are on the brink of a creative renaissance. 

This is the power of FC (always has been), and this is just the beginning.

The Leaders

PROXY → CLANKER

Clankers's brilliance lies in its incentive structure.

By driving fee generation back to token creators, it creates a natural flywheel. Further, creators are less likely to rugpull when they know they can make more money by creating value for everyone. Plus, these deployment contracts are attached to the creators' wallets—so destroying your credibility probably isn't worth it for a quick rug pull.

Currently, CLANKER sits at a $50M market cap and leads the pack on Clanker.World.

Yes, it's been running hot lately as word spreads to X. And yes, FC users are probably responsible for this pump, front-running the X liquidity. But don't sweat it—there's plenty to go around, and we're just getting started.

PROXY, trading at $18M, might be the closest thing we've seen to DEGEN since, well, DEGEN itself.

While PROXY's future value drivers and fee structure are not yet fully clear, the core PROXY team remains over-allocated but quiet. For now, at least.

Imagine a world where CLANKER creates the tokens and PROXY trades them. Imagine a world where PROXY is not only the largest DEX on Base, but has several forms of value driving back to it's token.

With their data, team, and ecosystem praise, they could pull it off. And while they haven't stepped on anyone's toes yet, they’ve certainly gained some friends in high places, namely the FC CEO, who is teasing mutually beneficial products.

Time will tell what the ultimate plan is for the PROXY token, but Clanker grows more powerful by the day, and so to does the team behind it, who is increasingly receiving more praise, fees, and exposure. Safe to say, they're bootstrapped, hiring, and moving at the speed of light. 

For the first time since June, the top 10 Base tokens by size and volume are almost entirely Clanker tokens.

Meanwhile, the FC feed is lit up with Clanker discussions at memetic levels not seen since the DEGEN tipping meta last February.

PROXY's super low supply and "forever believer" holder base tells a story—just look at the order book. Despite a 500%+ gain over the last week, they're not selling, and neither am I. 

HIGHER → LUM

Launched by some of the best minds on FC, Higher pioneered the "scenecoin" concept on Base.

They've created something special—a community of creators, artists, athletes, and onchain finantics, backed by some of the best branding and memetic potential I've seen in the space to-date.

From Higher Athletics to Bounties and Challenges, from Aether to their consistently dope art drops, Higher brings a breath of fresh air to the trenches.

The founding team keeps shipping and has tons of skin in the game. They've continued to hold all of their initial tokens, even through a full down swing. In fact, they bought more. 

With their connections and execution, my bet is on HIGHER being the next Base coin to land a Coinbase listing.

ANON

The third leader to emerge from the Clanker wars is Super Anon.

Created anonymously via SuperCast, it immediately attracted many of FC's brightest minds and builders. SuperCast founder, Woj, showed early support, leveraging Clanker's fees and community token distributions to make it rain on SuperCast users (which have already covered the entire year's subscription cost and then some).

The influence was immediate, and FC profile pictures started changing to question marks en masse.

Then powerhouse builder Kartik entered the arena with anancast.org, a ZK-powered, open-sourced app that embodied the 'K.I.S.S.' principle. The platform was an overnight success, drawing attention from industry leaders for its elegance and utility.

AnonCast offers a decentralized, 4chan-style anonymous account system for anyone holding enough $ANON. Kartik's novel approach to governance grants moderation privileges—like deleting posts or crossposting to Twitter—to significant $ANON holders, creating a self-regulating ecosystem.

The magic is in its simplicity: users sign a transaction from their connected wallet, generating a ZK-proof. After a short delay, the post appears—ensuring privacy and security without sacrificing accessibility.

(Shoutout to @anonpapi.eth for the edit here.)

The Conclusion

So so so...

DEGEN went to $1B last cycle. It happened fast. The tokens we've discussed are currently a fraction of that. That is all.

Godspeed.