Base, the tokenless blockchain by Coinbase, wrapped up its first year as a competitive L2 network. Base had a positive impact on multiple apps and the entire Web3 space. 

Base turned a year old, achieving on-chain results that placed it far ahead of other L1 and L2 networks. Promoted by Coinbase, the Base network did not require a token and depended on intuitive Web3 wallets to gain users. 

While the chain increased the overall fees generated, it was also relatively cheap for end users. In its first year, Base reported more than 27M registered wallets, while also accelerating the addition of new users. The ‘on-chain summer’ campaign coincided with the period of accelerated user growth. The Base team was also focused on creating tasks and interactions, as well as accessible NFTs, to encourage Base usage. 

The current user growth of Base did not move fees beyond $0.02, while widening the usage of DeFi and Web3. 

Base is the most significant chain in the Optimism ecosystem. The Base chain also carries OP tokens from the Optimism Mainnet, showcasing its scaling abilities. 

The most widely used features of Base included the USDC stablecoin, as well as granting easier and cheaper access to the Uniswap DEX. At the end of July, Base surpassed the milestone of carrying $20B worth of USDC, with accelerating growth in the past three months. 

As a result, Base expanded its total value locked to $1.44B, with a big boost from the 2024 bull market. Base activity grew even more in Q2, as meme token trading boosted decentralized exchanges. Base is a net recipient of inflows from Ethereum (ETH), together with Optimism. Base directly received $1.11B of inflows, with $1.01B for Optimism. Native bridged tokens make up 94% of the traffic, while around 6% of inflows come from stablecoins, especially USDC.

Base marked more than 730K daily active users in August, surpassing even the Bitcoin (BTC) network. The user inflow helped Base achieve $3.39M in monthly revenues. Each day, hundreds or thousands new contracts are also deployed, mostly driven by meme token activity. Other L2 chains remain close competitors of Base, but the newer chain is slowly expanding its market share.  

happy 1⃣ birthday, @base 🎂

here's to the achievements in your first 365 days:◆ 3.6m daily transactions◆ $0.02 transaction fees◆ 600k daily users (unique addresses)◆ 40k usdc daily users

check it out: https://t.co/KoGJXPEEQa

to many more years, stay based 🔵 pic.twitter.com/afZLhyQ8qH

— Crystal Tai ☕ (@crystaltaixyz) August 9, 2024

Base faces bots and fake tokens problem

In the past quarter, Base managed to grow its user base and overcome bots with real users. Uniswap V2 became the most active DEX on Base, with up to 80% of Uniswap users migrating to the new chain from Ethereum. 

The creation of new meme tokens also meant some of the assets were scams. Buyers complained of tokens that could only be bought, but were blocked from selling. 

The other source of growth for Base came from its native DEX, Aerodrome. The DEX is the seventh largest among newly expanding markets, with more than $562K in value locked. Aerodrome has been expanding on Base, making up for 80% of all transaction volumes during most active days.

As of August 5, Aerodrome on Base also held the most actively traded decentralized pair. The DEX pair carried $221.5M in volumes for WETH against USDC. While Base does not yet have a native token, Aerodrome serves as the tokenized project that reflects the chain’s growth. In the past year, all early Aerodrome investors received $110M in redistributed fees. Aerodrome veAERO tokens are fairly distributed and have no insider VC holdings. AERO tokens traded at $0.68 after the recent correction, still up in the past 12 months from their initial trading price of $0.09.  

Aerodrome’s usage only recently surpassed Uniswap, boosted by USDC trading pairs. Recently, Aerodrome broke above $3B in trading volumes, turning into a fee-generating protocol with a fee sharing program for veAERO holders and voters.

The other big name on Base was Miggles (MIGGLES), a meme token created after the image of the Coinbase NFT, Mr. Miggles. MIGGLES turned into a fully verified, tradable token, with a predominance of buyers over sellers as of August 12. 

MIGGLES is a relatively well-distributed token, with only a handful of small wallet clusters. The meme token has been trading since July 19, and is currently recovering toward $0.43.  

Cryptopolitan reporting by Hristina Vasileva