Base is an Ethereum Layer-2 scaling solution launched in August 2022 by Coinbase engineer Jesse Pollak. Designed for security, affordability, and ease of use, Base aims to onboard the next billion users onchain.
Built on Optimism's OP Stack, Base leverages the security of the Ethereum mainnet while offering significantly faster and cheaper transactions. This combination makes Base an attractive platform for developers and users alike.
Base prioritizes building solutions for everyday use cases, with a focus on fiat on-ramps, easy-to-use wallets, and scalable infrastructure. The Base ecosystem has an outspoken focus on consumer and payment applications like Friend.Tech, Fren Pet, and Farcaster and payment with USDC.
Base as a Coinbase Startup
Leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase incubated Base, acting as a major catalyst for its success and mass adoption. According to Token Terminal, Base serves as a four-step strategy for Coinbase to rebuild itself on-chain:
Develop an on-chain developer platform for internal Coinbase teams.
Develop an on-chain developer platform for external teams.
Integrate the on-chain developer platform with the Coinbase product suite.
Rebuild Coinbase on-chain.
The included diagram illustrates how Coinbase is building Base as a self-sustaining startup.
Let’s look at Base Onchain Metrics
Leveraging blockchain data from Dune, I created queries and a dashboard to analyze on-chain activity on Base. You can explore the Base dashboard and provide feedback on areas of improvement.
Total value locked (TVL) in Base surpassed $1.5 billion.
With growing interest and adoption on Base, approximately $1.503 billion worth of crypto assets are locked across 50 deployed protocols.
Base TVL has surged significantly since January 2024, driven by major events like the launch of the CUBE NFT collection, Uniswap V2 deployment, and the ongoing "on-chain summer.
Over 600k Daily Active Users on Base
Daily active users on Base reached an all-time high of 855,000 on March 16th following the successful Duncan upgrade, which reduced gas fees on Ethereum. Before the upgrade, average daily active users stood at around 80,000.
Since then, the daily active user count has continued to grow, currently exceeding 606,000 as of July 2nd, 2024.
Daily Transactions on Base surges above 2M
In the days that led to the Duncan upgrade, Base processed an average of 440,000 transactions per day. However, following the upgrade, daily transactions skyrocketed to a record 2 million on March 16th, representing a massive 3,200% increase from the pre-upgrade average.
Since then, Base transactions have continued to grow, reaching an all-time high of 3.4 million on June 4th. Currently, daily transactions hover around 3.15 million, indicating sustained interest and activity on the Base chain.
Base records 269K new addresses in 24H
Nearly half of Base’s active addresses since July are new users. In the last 24 hours alone, about 56.2% (269750) of the 479,580 active addresses were new. This indicates growing interest and adoption of the Base ecosystem.
The recent surge in new addresses could be attributed to users exploring new products launched by developers during the Onchain Summer event, alongside innovations like Coinbase's Smart Wallet.
Base’ profit above $4M despite market downturn
Base has maintained profitability since its launch, reaching a monthly high of $16.8 million in March 2024.
Even with the recent market downturn impacting its financials, Base continues to remain profitable, with a low cost of $28.7k, generating a revenue of $4.42 million and closing June with a profit of $4.39 million.
Final Thoughts
Base performance demonstrates a strong path toward achieving its mission of onboarding the next billion users onchain. Its low-cost transaction and affiliation with Coinbase make it a great choice for developers building consumer-focused products. The onchain metrics analyzed in this research reveal increasing adoption and rising profitability as more users migrate to the Base ecosystem.
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