In just a few months, Base has rapidly risen from a relatively unfamiliar Layer 2 project to a leader in the Ethereum-compatible ecosystem, with a total value locked (TVL) exceeding $3.85 billion, surpassing Arbitrum and Optimism, becoming the most competitive new giant in the Layer 2 market. With the strong backing of Coinbase and support from North American capital, the Base ecosystem has welcomed explosive growth in 2024, with inflows in November surpassing Solana, becoming one of the hottest wealth tracks in the blockchain field. However, despite achieving significant results in capital inflows and ecosystem growth, its on-chain transaction volume has not surpassed Solana, indicating that while rapidly expanding, Base still faces the dual challenges of sustained growth and market competition.
Taking market value as an example, Clanker's CLANKER token market cap has reached $70 million, reflecting the immense appeal of the Base ecosystem and the current trend. Unlike traditional VC coin strategies, the rise of Meme tokens drives on-chain data and user trading behavior back to exchanges for listing, forming a brand new ecological model. Users accumulate chips on-chain and then use exchange liquidity to exit, pushing CEX (Centralized Exchanges) to the corners of the market. This is a strong indication of the true beginning of a bull market, similar to the on-chain liquidity explosion during the DeFi Summer of 2020. This innovative mechanism showcases the vitality of the Base ecosystem while exposing the challenges it still faces in market competition.
On-Chain Data Comparison Between Base and Solana on Artemis
The relationship between public chains and ecosystem projects is like a couple dancing together, inseparable and mutually supportive. Whether Base, as a public chain, can leverage AI Agents and Meme culture to break through the $4 billion TVL barrier and become a market leader remains an unresolved challenge. At the same time, whether ecosystem projects like Clanker and Virtual Protocol can find fertile ground for growth within the Base ecosystem and rise with market heat is also worth watching. Clanker and Virtual Protocol are representative projects in the current Base craze, the former as a 'machine for creating popular Memes', and the latter transitioning from GameFi to AI infrastructure to consumer platforms. Although they have different development paths, they both seize market opportunities and become focal points of attention. Through the rise of these projects, we see the allure of the Base ecosystem and the current market trend, showcasing the deep entanglement of interests and tacit understanding between public chains and projects, where the beauty of the market is still filled with commercial and market-driven motives.
Clanker: The 'Hit Meme' Machine of the Base Ecosystem
Clanker is like a mad invention that has crossed over from (Rick and Morty), becoming a reality in the laboratory of the Base public chain—it is an AI Agent full of quirky ideas, focused on turning ethereal concepts into real-world Meme tokens using social media and smart contracts. Imagine, like Rick, casually waving, @clanker directly deploying an ERC-20 token on Farcaster, complete with liquidity pools and smart locking features—this is not just the magic of technology but a carnival of decentralized narratives. Clanker simplifies the operational process, relying on the Clanker.sol contract to achieve ERC-20 token minting, Uniswap V3 pool initialization, liquidity injection and locking. Users only need to initiate a simple request on Farcaster to easily complete the deployment and distribution of tokens, having already created multiple Meme tokens with market caps exceeding ten million dollars. It breaks down technical barriers, giving everyone the opportunity to become a creator in the Meme economy, while also creating tangible benefits for the community through a 40% fee-sharing mechanism.
Clanker Technology Implementation Flowchart
However, this carnival is not merely for entertainment. Clanker is exploring how to integrate the philosophy of DeSci (Decentralized Science) into its system. For example, future tokens may no longer be just humorous or sentimental but could carry functions supporting research funding, sharing experimental results, or providing open-source tools. Just like Rick inventing solutions for cosmic problems, Clanker's token may become an experimental tool for the scientific community, providing new funding models for scientists while reshaping the academic trust system with on-chain transparency. This combination of DeSci and Meme not only feels refreshing but also opens up an unexpected future for blockchain applications.
Clanker is a mad and creative laboratory, constantly expanding the boundaries of Web3 amidst laughter and innovation. Who knows, will the next industry whose rules it rewrites be science?
Market Cap Performance of the Three Major Tokens CLANKER, LUM, ANON
The issuance stories of the three major tokens CLANKER, LUM, and ANON, particularly the combination of ANON with the anonymous posting tool anoncast, even attracted the attention of Ethereum founder Vitalik. It is also worth noting that the birth of AI Meme Luminous ($LUM) originated from an inspirational collision in the Farcaster community, where a user proposed the bold idea of creating a token symbolizing the collaborative achievements of humans and AI: intertwined blue and gold light streams represent AI and human consciousness, forming an infinite loop, while the deep space background conveys a sense of technology and futurism. Through the Clanker platform, this idea was quickly realized, with the entire process of token minting, Uniswap V3 pool initialization, liquidity injection and locking, and the design of a 40% transaction fee rebate mechanism being automated. $LUM not only lowers technical barriers with a simplified operational process but also quickly attracts community attention through the narrative theme of 'human and AI collaboration' and artistic visual design, becoming a cultural symbol within the Base ecosystem. Leveraging strong community dissemination power, $LUM has exceeded a market cap of $30 million from its inspiration.
On one hand, Clanker, as an innovative platform, greatly lowers the technical threshold by simplifying user operation processes (such as generating tokens directly through @clanker) and issuing tokens in collaboration with AI, allowing anyone to participate in the creation and dissemination of Meme tokens. On the other hand, spectators cannot help but wonder if the Clanker model can be sustained? As a 'crypto circle' project, its current model focuses on hype and dissemination, lacking actual 'usage' scenarios. I would like to invoke the thoughts of cultural anthropologists, where in reality, a culture is neither a purely physical process nor a purely idealistic construction. It is a living entity rooted in the soil, encompassing the simple instinctual lives of shepherds, fishermen, and farmers, as well as the highest achievements of artists and philosophers; just as individuals closely combine the nutrition and reproduction of animal life with higher rational and intellectual activities. As the world transitions from the real to the virtual, Clanker may not only be a technical tool but more so the core engine for innovation and cultural dissemination within the Base ecosystem, gradually promoting community interaction and the release of creativity.
Virtual Protocol: Inspirational Startup Stories in the Crypto Circle
Although part of the Base ecosystem, Virtual has chosen a completely different path: product-driven at its core, emphasizing the link between AI and Web2 users, gradually creating a high-frequency 'usage' tool system. The perspectives of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and A16Z co-founder Marc Andreessen highlight the unique advantages of the Virtual team in high-frequency trial and error. From PathDAO to Virtual Protocol, the team has traversed GameFi, AI infrastructure, and consumer DApps in three years, achieving a market cap miracle from $10 million to $1 billion.
PathDAO's Early GitHub and the Twitter of the Ecosystem Leader
Virtual encompasses a diverse product line, including modules like MyShell's Alpp Store. Although the market cap and usage of individual products do not match Clanker's crypto Meme, it opens up space in Web2 tool scenarios. $VIRTUAL is the native token of the Virtual Protocol platform, designed specifically for the AI agent ecosystem. Users need to use $VIRTUAL to purchase AGENT tokens (such as $LUNA) and cannot exchange through other tokens, making $VIRTUAL the only channel to enter this ecosystem, purchase, and invest in AI agents. The VIRTUAL token plays a key role in the entire system, driving economic activities on the platform and ensuring decentralization and fair distribution. Most agents on the platform represent specific personalities or roles, such as virtual life forms, frogs, emojis, Donald Trump, Taylor Swift, etc. Meanwhile, developers are creating functional agents to enhance user interaction with AI virtual life forms and ensure seamless integration into the virtual world. These agents can not only generate real income but also achieve long-term growth and shared ownership through tokenization mechanisms, allowing participants to share potential returns brought by agents through holding $VIRTUAL tokens and purchasing $LUNA tokens.
However, Virtual is questioned by Degen whether its 'usability' makes its tool products 'misplaced'? As a cryptocurrency ecosystem project, its core is 'use', not 'speculation', but does this mean it loses its dissemination value?
Clanker: The 'Rebel' of Liangshan
Clanker resembles Song Jiang, who was just forced to rebel at Liangshan, leveraging its organizational power and dissemination effect to allow a group of grass-roots heroes to secure a place in chaotic times. Clanker captures the attention of many crypto users by creating hot Meme tokens, fostering a frenzy in the market, akin to Liangshan's slogan of 'acting on behalf of heaven', spreading the ideology of rebellion throughout the world.
But the problem is, Liangshan's banner ultimately is just a slogan, lacking long-term support. Many tokens issued by Clanker have high market values but remain at the conceptual level, lacking solid use cases. This model resembles Liangshan's desperate struggle for survival in chaotic times, continuously expanding influence through speculative means, yet may not be able to maintain it for long.
Virtual: The 'Invitation Faction' of Liangshan
In contrast, Virtual's path resembles the invitation faction in Water Margin. Their core appeal is not rebellion but to ensure that their brothers can eat and drink, pursuing stability and order. Virtual focuses on refining product functions, empowering users through AI tools, bridging Web2 and Web3, and more akin to Liangshan's efforts to maintain its 'orthodox position' after accepting the imperial court.
Virtual emphasizes 'use' rather than 'speculation'. Its tool products, although frequently called upon, lack the dissemination effect of cryptocurrencies, similar to Liangshan after the invitation, which solved short-term livelihood issues but lost its initial spirit of resistance. This model may offer more stability in the short term, but whether it can maintain the ideological value of cryptocurrencies remains uncertain.
Ideological Resistance vs. Livelihood Compromise
The core contradiction of the Liangshan rebellion lies in the game between the ideology of resistance and the reality of survival. Song Jiang's 'acting on behalf of heaven' represents the spirit of resistance, while the eventual invitation is a choice to find a realistic home for his brothers. This transition showcases the conflict between ideals and reality—idealism is resistance, while reality is compromise.
Similarly, the divergence between Clanker and Virtual reflects another contradiction in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the opposition of 'speculation' and 'use', which actually reflects a deeper issue in cryptocurrencies: as BTC and ETH gradually gain mainstream acceptance and enter the age of war reserves and compliance, do we need more product innovation or stronger ideological dissemination? Just as Song Jiang reflected while looking down at the camp from the mountain: 'As we are bandits, how can we not return to the court? If we rebel, it is only to seek a stable life; how can we continue to be rebels forever?' This statement aptly expresses the mental journey from resistance to realistic compromise and provides a mirror for us to reflect on the future of cryptocurrencies.
