With the mission of bringing more users onto the chain, Base launched its mainnet in June last year. Through branding and marketing activities focused on the community, creators, and developers, it has become a consumer-facing on-chain application center in less than a year.
Base has recently seen a surge in users and transaction volume due to market factors such as EIP-4844 lowering aggregation fees and the Meme craze, coupled with internal factors such as the growth of the Farcaster community and the increase in on-chain applications.
Unlike other blockchain ecosystems that focus primarily on DeFi and infrastructure, Base provides consumer-oriented applications similar to traditional Web2 services. This is driven by its unique community and brand, and brings more applications on-chain.
Currently, the Base ecosystem is growing fastest in social and community applications centered on Farcaster. However, new categories of on-chain applications, including content, games, and commerce, are emerging, showing broad potential for user expansion.
1 Introduction
Despite being less than a year old, Base’s growth and influence are impressive. The increase in user activity stems from a variety of factors, including lower transaction fees through the implementation of EIP-4844, the meme craze, and the growth of the Farcaster community. Since the beginning of the year, transaction volume on the Base chain has increased ninefold and the number of users has quadrupled. Although Base has benefited from Coinbase’s well-known brand and its strong team, these factors cannot fully explain Base’s success. Similarly, technological advantages or the platform’s unique features are not enough to explain Base’s achievements. Currently, Base is a Layer 2 blockchain built on the OP Stack, developed in partnership with OP Labs, making it essentially the same as Optimism or other OP Stack fork projects.
The on-chain applications within the Base ecosystem are also significantly different from those on other chains. Unlike other projects that are mainly DeFi-focused, Base's ecosystem is mainly centered around social networks centered on Farcaster and applications for retail consumers. This article explores Base's growth story and its vision for the future of on-chain applications.
2. Origin
Mission: Bring 1 billion users to the chain
Base's vision is very similar to Coinbase's. As early as 2016, when the concept of on-chain products barely existed, Coinbase outlined a vision of an open economic system driven by cryptocurrency in its blog and set a milestone of introducing 1 billion users to the blockchain. At that time, the market was in the second stage, the "single-player mode" stage, and the current market is now in the third stage of wallet activation and application development.
Base was created to push the crypto industry to the next stage. Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base, said that they did not initially consider building a chain. Before creating the current Base, they went through multiple internal iterations, trying to build user-facing on-chain services. After a year of operation, they tried four different services including an on-chain application market and user identity services (the predecessor of cb.id). Despite some small successes, the impact was far from enough. However, through this process, they realized that the infrastructure and tools for building on-chain services were still weak.
This recognition of weak infrastructure and lack of user-friendly services led to the birth of the current Base project. By launching its Layer 2, Base aims to achieve the following three main goals:
Improve user access to on-chain services: Currently, the threshold for ordinary users to directly utilize on-chain services in the crypto ecosystem is still high. Base aims to solve this problem and provide users with a platform that makes it easier to access on-chain services.
Support for developers: The current frameworks and tools for building on-chain services are much more limited than the Web 2 service development environment. Base not only provides a Layer 2 blockchain, but also layers various developer tools on top to make on-chain development easier. This makes it easier for developers to participate in the Base ecosystem.
Expanding Coinbase's on-chain services: Coinbase's investment in Base enables them to actively support the expansion of the Base platform. This enables the Coinbase team to more stably build new on-chain services and expand its product base.
Based on OP Stack
Base is an Ethereum Layer 2 chain that utilizes the OP Stack. Although chains such as the recently emerged Solana have successfully established a meaningful user base and independent ecosystem, when the Base project was conceived in 2022, it was obviously a wise choice to provide services on Ethereum, which is leading in user and developer adoption. Adopting a Layer 2 solution as its chain is also to achieve the goals of sufficient scalability and low transaction fees. While the technical maturity of the OP Stack is a major factor, Optimism's decentralized governance structure also played a key role in Base's collaboration with OP Labs.
Although OP Stack was considered the most technologically refined solution at the time, Optimism's decentralized governance structure also played a crucial role in Base's decision to work with OP Labs. Although Coinbase deals with cryptocurrencies, it is an organization that specializes in creating typical Web 2.0 services. Naturally, they operate in a centralized manner and are good at making decisions quickly and efficiently. However, their desire is not just to create another transaction chain, but to provide a foundation that many users and developers can safely trust. For them, decentralization is more than just a slogan.
“Coinbase will gradually transform into a contributor to Base. We will provide services and products based on Base. We will no longer be the decision maker of all matters in the Base network - these decisions will be made through more decentralized governance.” - Jesse Pollak, creator of Base.
Optimism has long been committed to decentralizing not only their rollup framework, but also their chain governance, an effort that provides Coinbase with the organizational culture and operational foundation they lack. Currently, Coinbase and the Optimism Foundation jointly hold the power to upgrade the Base chain main bridge and submit fraud evidence in the system's dispute resolution. While this is unlikely to happen, it is also possible that Coinbase will lose governance rights over the Base chain if Coinbase attempts to maliciously change the rollup chain. Base should not be viewed as just a client or an abstract partnership for rollup chain solutions, but rather as a partner that actively develops and operates with the Optimism Foundation. The recent EIP-4844 update supported by Coinbase and OP Labs, as well as the development of the op-geth client for chains based on the OP Stack, demonstrates their continued research and collaboration with OP Labs beyond chain construction and governance.
Calling developers and creators
From the beginning, Base has been targeting developers and content creators as its primary customers, always conveying the same message. Coinbase has a history of running impressive marketing campaigns that focus more on value delivery than the product itself, such as "updating the system" and "standing with crypto." Base effectively integrates the existing Coinbase brand and DNA into this new project and actively uses it for marketing.
From the announcement of the Base mainnet at Onchain Summer, to the collaboration with Prop House "Build on Base", the Superhack with Optimism and ETH Denver, and the release of "Base, Introduced" NFT by Zora, Base has established its own unique brand and image from the beginning. Although most of the activities took place before the launch of the Base mainnet in August, they were enough to build market expectations and convey its expected information. In particular, the Onchain Summer event was very successful, minting more than 700,000 NFTs.
Even after the Base mainnet launch, they continue to run various activities for developers and developers. Currently, Base operates the Base Grant project to provide funding for developers' services and designs Base Bootcamp to help developers get started with Web3. In addition, they provide infrastructure such as OnchainKit and Base Camp, Camp provides libraries or tutorials required by developers and developers to create services. Cooperation with content or service creators is also ongoing. With the Mint A Penny project, they introduced token-based commerce experiences for the first time, and the short film "Delivery at Dawn" released recently with the EIP-4844 upgrade has also attracted great interest.
Base’s approach vividly embodies the concept of the Golden Circle, starting with a compelling “Why” that forms the core of its operations. Base’s fundamental purpose is to democratize blockchain technology and make it accessible to builders and creators. This purpose drives every aspect of their work, which aims to inspire innovation and engagement in the crypto community. It’s more than just providing a platform; it’s about cultivating an ecosystem where the inherent desire to create and innovate is fully supported and encouraged. It’s worth reminding that Base didn’t start by creating a blockchain. Base is the embodiment of their goals and mission, establishing themselves not only as one of the rollups with the largest volume and TVL, but also as a pioneering brand in crypto that builders and creators look up to.
3. Go deep into the Base ecosystem
Despite being less than a year old since its mainnet launch, the Base ecosystem is quickly establishing itself as a hub for consumer applications. Unlike other blockchain ecosystems that focus primarily on DeFi and infrastructure, Base supports a wide variety of applications across social media, content, gaming, and commerce. These applications are actively being developed and operated, providing users with unique and engaging experiences that are quite unique in both Web2 and Web3. The diversity of the Base ecosystem is not only a testament to the success of a single rollup project; it serves as a practical demonstration of how on-chain applications can become part of the daily lives of more users.
This chapter highlights promising projects in consumer applications within the Base ecosystem, categorized by social and community, content platform, games, and commerce. Considering the classification of other blockchain ecosystems, the categories of Base on-chain applications are not significantly different from those in Web2, highlighting the uniqueness of Base. In addition, there are many large and small projects that are emerging and developing within the Base ecosystem and are not included in this article. For readers who want to have a deeper understanding of on-chain applications in the Base ecosystem, a project database is provided for reference.
Social & Community
Social and community applications are core sectors driving the growth of the Base and Farcaster ecosystems in the consumer application space. These social and community applications are critical in onboarding early adopters on mainnet, and they create the need for continued user interaction and transactions. In particular, applications such as Friend tech and Farcaster on Base achieved unexpected success, significantly affecting the inflow of early users.
After the launch of Base mainnet last year, Friend tech created a new category called SocialFi. The emergence of SocialFi has led to the creation of large-scale applications that exceed the revenue of L1 and L2 protocols, such as Blast’s Fantasy.top and Solana’s Pump.fun. In addition to SocialFi, applications focused on user interaction are similar to traditional Web2 social applications and also show high growth in user base and transaction volume. Farcaster is a prime example, focusing on providing the functionality needed for stable and ongoing community activity without direct transaction functionality. The growth of the social and community sector significantly differentiates on-chain social applications from traditional social network services through several key characteristics:
Interoperability between on-chain applications:
Seamless interoperability between on-chain applications provides a unique user experience that is different from traditional applications. Applications built on blockchain or Farcaster protocol share user data and social graphs, providing an interconnected experience across multiple services. For example, users can switch between different Farcaster clients, or comments seen on Paragraph appear directly on the Farcaster client, and vice versa.
The openness of data and networks acts as a lever, enabling on-chain applications to overcome entry barriers caused by network effects and allowing for various experiments. Unlike the Web2 environment, which strictly separates user data and social graphs, applications developed based on open protocols such as Farcaster can transplant existing social graphs, overcome bootstrapping challenges, and focus on user experience and functionality.
Memecoin as a marketing strategy: Memecoins have attracted a lot of attention recently due to their high volatility and unusual price increases. Despite criticism of their value and ethics, they are clearly an effective marketing strategy for applications, especially social applications, to attract initial users and promote their services. In the Base ecosystem, memecoins such as DEGEN tokens have incentivized community activities among Farcaster users. Other effective marketing strategies include BUILD tokens launched by on-chain identity platform Talent Protocol and Onchain tokens launched by on-chain community platform Guild.
Gamified social networks and incentives: Leveraging token incentives for on-chain applications is crucial to Web3 and has seen significant growth recently. Unlike previous approaches that rewarded all users equally, recent innovations have introduced more complex mechanisms. For example, Blur launched a points and leaderboard system that was later developed further by Blast, while social applications and tokens on Base adopted a token distribution strategy based on community contributions and game theory. These developments encourage users to compete and cooperate and develop strategies to maximize economic benefits. In the process, the app subtly promotes community engagement and desired behaviors, seamlessly integrating its services into user interactions.
main project
1) DINO MEME section
The first fair sale of ERC50 protocol launched
On March 29, a Meme project called DINO began to raise funds on the Base chain. Don’t trust anyone except the code, and this sentence became their source of trust from the community. DINO announced that it has launched a new ERC50 protocol. The main purpose of this protocol is fair sale, and almost all operations during the pre-sale process are written into the contract. This protocol can automatically allocate tokens, automatically lock positions, automatically refund, and automatically add LP to the liquidity pool. According to what the project team wrote, the project can be realized: no administrators, no mouse warehouses, and no RUGs.
ERC50 sets a new standard for the meme token world, bringing fairness and security to meme enthusiasts and communities:
No janitors, no rats, no carpets.
ERC-20 compatible, open source, Fair Mint.
On the day of its launch, it also created a transaction volume of over 100 million, with a one-day increase of more than 10 times. However, new things need time to settle, and it will take time to gain market recognition.
2) Firecaster
Farcaster is a sufficiently decentralized social networking protocol founded in 2020 by former Coinbase employees Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan. Decentralization means that any two users in the network can interact without the approval of others. Farcaster runs as a protocol consisting of smart contracts on the Optimism network, storing user accounts, posts (Casts), and reactions.
A distinguishing feature of Farcaster is the way it operates as an open protocol, unlike traditional Web 2 social networks. While platforms like X and Facebook maintain a one-to-one relationship between the protocol and the client, prohibiting unauthorized third-party clients, Farcaster takes a different approach. It allows anyone to develop their own client that can connect to its protocol and be able to read and write data freely without operator approval. In this context, the client refers to the user interface that publishes Casts or browses the feed.
Currently, Warpcast is the most popular client on Farcaster and the only client developed and managed by the Farcaster team. Other third-party clients such as Supercast, Nook, Jam and Ampcast are also available, each offering a unique user experience or customized features. This open protocol model encourages innovation and allows for continuous experimentation and development, unlike Web2 services that centrally control user data and social interactions.
The rapid growth in the number of Farcaster users this year is largely due to the launch of the Frame feature. Frame allows users to run applications that enable simple interactions in a Cast. The feature has received widespread attention from the community and opinion leaders because it embodies the openness and compatibility values at the core of the crypto space. Frame is essentially just a simple interactive button in a Cast, but its significance goes far beyond that. Frame lays the foundation for various experiments on the social graphs and protocols of existing networks. Initially, Frames with experimental features, such as those that run Doom or sell Girl Scout cookies, attracted the attention of the community. Currently, the feature is mainly used to enhance user participation, including NFT casting, simple games, dashboards, or command robots.
In addition to the introduction of Frame functionality, Farcaster's growth has been positively impacted by a favorable market environment, the expansion of the Base ecosystem, and the memecoin craze. After the bootstrap phase, Farcaster has become one of the most active and critical networks in the Base ecosystem. Many new projects launched on Base choose to build their communities and user bases on Farcaster instead of X. Even with a relatively small number of users, the community on Farcaster is very active, mainly due to the large number of opinion leaders, creators, and developers. As the Base ecosystem grows and more consumer applications are integrated, it is expected that Farcaster's network will continue to expand and develop.
3) The dough
Degen is an ERC-20 token on Base that plays a core role in the Farcaster community and ecosystem. It greatly benefits from the growth of the Farcaster network while also contributing to its growth. The Degen project is designed to incentivize community participation and content creation. Users can tip others' posts within a limit determined by the community activity ranking. Since its launch, Degen has been highly recognized by the community, becoming the de facto currency for various projects in Farcaster, and even led to it launching its own Layer 3 chain to expand its influence.
Although the launch of Degen may seem like just another experimental token, its impact far outweighs the usual memecoin price surge. It has profoundly impacted the Farcaster ecosystem, boosting overall activity on the platform by promoting more content creation and user interaction. It has led to an influx of developers, creators, and opinion leaders, forming a vibrant community. Since the success of Degen, community-based tipping, similar to Blur's point system on Ethereum, has become a strategic playbook for many projects and applications to drive user interaction and network growth.
Additionally, it is worth noting the significant contribution of third-party tokens like Degen to the tokenless Farcaster protocol. While previously most protocols primarily used their own tokens to incentivize user acquisition, this often resulted in a massive exodus of users when prices dropped. However, by integrating or using external memecoins as core functionality or base currencies, applications can attract new users while insulating the utility of the application from price fluctuations. Adopting the Degen token as the base currency has been adopted by applications such as Drakula, Perl and Bracket. This marketing strategy, which combines memecoin and speculation, is expected to become more popular and refined, minimizing the risk of launching own tokens while still incentivizing user participation and action.
4）Friend Tech
Friend Tech is a social trading app that was launched alongside the Base mainnet launch last August. It allows users to buy and sell each other’s “keys” (shares) to join private group chats. Users can also profit by trading keys or seeing other users trade their keys.
Since its launch, Friend Tech has faced controversy and mixed market reactions. However, it pioneered a new genre of SocialFi, which was previously dominated by DeFi and NFTs. Strategic moves such as Twitter integration embedded in the wallet, gaining support from investor Paradigm, and invite-only access quickly raised its profile. Just two weeks after its launch, Friend Tech attracted 100,000 users, generated $3 million in fees, and greatly helped the early growth of the Base mainnet.
Despite its innovative strategy, the low quality of the app and Ponzi-like token economics led to a massive exodus of users and funds after its rapid success. Friend Tech recently launched its second version with a token airdrop in an effort to regain its initial popularity. The new version of the app restricts transfers of FRIEND tokens and allows trading only on its proprietary DEX, a departure from standard practice. However, it seems that most users are still primarily focused on speculation and airdrops, making the platform's resurgence still uncertain. Whatever the outcome, Friend Tech has pioneered a new genre in SocialFi and consumer applications and continues to work hard to break with traditional approaches, which will likely serve as a valuable case study.
Noteworthy projects
AlfaFrens
AlfaFrens is a SocialFi app based on Farcaster, similar to Friend Tech, whose outstanding feature is that it allows users to subscribe to specific influencers to access exclusive chat rooms. When users subscribe to influencers on AlfaFrens, their assets will be reduced in real time according to the subscription fee. The platform uses Degen as the main currency, which promotes active interaction in the Farcaster community.
A unique feature of AlfaFrens is its subscription-based interaction. Developed by Superfluid, a startup that supports on-chain asset flows, AlfaFrens has carved out a niche in the largely retail-driven crypto market. Their strategy leverages minimal functionality and memecoins to stimulate speculative interest, effectively attracting new users and raising awareness of their brand and products.
2）Interface
Interface is a social platform that displays wallet activity in a feed format. Users can follow wallets registered via ENS or addresses to view their real-time actions such as contract calls, token purchases, and NFT minting. Especially with the growth of Farcaster's connected social graph, it is now easier to follow connected accounts, greatly improving the utility of the application. With the growth of social activities and content platforms in fields such as art and music, it is expected to further increase the fun and value of the on-chain social graph.
Interface stands out for its smooth experience and decent design. Especially when most Web3 products still provide poor user experience, the provision of Interface is particularly significant. As consumer applications grow in importance, a great user experience moves from optional to required. For example, OKX wallet is popular for its excellent user experience and multi-chain functionality. Currently, the wallet application is the main entrance for users to conduct on-chain activities. However, apps with strong social features are expected to become the next super apps in the crypto space. As more on-chain browser applications emerge that focus on social features, it will be worth watching the adoption of Interface and its alternative platforms.
3）Kiosk
Kiosk is a new Farcaster client that combines on-chain social networking and commerce features. Developed by the team behind Mirror, an on-chain content platform that was sold to Paragraph. Before its launch, Kiosk attracted a lot of attention with $10 million in investment from companies such as Electric Capital and A16Z.
Kiosk plans to offer more advanced features than standard social media. Users can easily convert images into NFTs, or purchase assets created or collected by friends directly from their feeds. In addition, Kiosk will support creators in building communities and sharing content. Creators and opinion leaders can build communities with members with similar interests through token gating or subscription channels.
Content and Platform
In the Base ecosystem, applications in the social and community fields are currently the most active, providing interfaces and interactions similar to Web2 platforms such as Facebook or X. Considering the historical evolution of the Internet and platforms in Web2, the growth of on-chain social graphs and community activities indicates that new content platforms may emerge. In Web2, the popularity of the Internet and mobile devices has promoted the expansion of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, and subsequently spawned specialized content services such as Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok.
The on-chain application ecosystem on Base is currently seeing the emergence of various content platforms in community activities centered around Farcaster. As the on-chain user base and activities gradually increase, the demand for platforms with different content types is expected to increase. Currently, applications focusing on short texts and photos in a social feed format are the most common. However, applications optimized for different content types such as articles, videos, and live broadcasts are also emerging, and the expansion of user demand and service supply seems to be about to happen.
Compared to similar services in Web2, the characteristics of on-chain content platforms include: 1) seamless interoperability between applications, 2) token-based interactions, and 3) rewards especially for creators and opinion leaders. Like applications in the social and community fields, on-chain content platforms provide a seamless user experience between multiple applications based on shared protocols such as Farcaster. Secondly, most applications use tokens as a key means of interaction, not just simple exchange transactions. Content created by creators can be minted into NFTs to obtain ownership, exclusive communities can be formed around specific tokens, and tokens can also be used to reward and favor loyal users. Finally, creators can also obtain strong economic incentives through tokens and interact more actively with their fans or communities. Creators and opinion leaders publish content on the chain, allowing people to mint or use it to form communities.
main project
1) UnlonelyUnlonely is a Base-based on-chain live broadcast platform that combines Web2 and Web3 elements to create a seamless user experience. The platform has recently attracted investment from high-profile firms such as Multicoin Capital and Coinbase Ventures, raising expectations for new consumer applications. Unlonely stands out by integrating gamified on-chain features into its live streaming service. Viewers can watch live broadcasts just like on traditional platforms without having to connect a wallet or log in. However, Unlonely enhances audience interaction by integrating various on-chain functions, making the interaction between anchors and audiences richer. A notable feature is that streamers can create temporary tokens that can only be traded if a target price is reached within 30 minutes. After the feature was introduced, Unlonely founder Brian Guan managed to generate $160,000 in transaction volume and $6,000 in creator fees in just one live broadcast. In addition, the platform also enriches the live streaming experience by allowing viewers to interact more deeply by participating in bets, private chats and using Unlonely’s native token.
In February, Unlonely hosted an innovative event called “Love On Leverage”, which played an important role in promoting the platform and its unique on-chain user experience. This engaging dating show allowed male and female participants to meet online. As they interacted, viewers could place bets to see if the couple would go on a second date. If the total amount of support exceeded a predetermined threshold, the couple would actually go on a date. Conversely, if the opposing bets were in the majority, new participants would be introduced. This creative and interactive event was a huge hit, attracting over 10,000 views, generating over $20,000 in token transactions, and tripling Unlonely’s social media following.
2) Paragraph Paragraph is an on-chain newsletter and publishing platform that allows content creators to mint their works into NFTs, send newsletters directly to wallet addresses, or earn income through subscriptions. In addition to typical content platform functions, Paragraph is integrated with social protocols such as Farcaster, Lens, and XMTP to provide token-based channel creation. This integration helps individuals and brands build communities and enhance user interaction in the Web3 space. Recently, Paragraph consolidated its position as almost the only player in the on-chain publishing market by receiving a $5 million investment from Union Square and Coinbase Ventures and acquiring competitor Mirror.
While minted articles themselves rarely have direct economic value, they serve as a means of validation, increasing community participation and distinguishing initial contributors. This feature is increasingly being adopted in on-chain social communities. In particular, with the recent launch of Farcaster’s Frame feature, which allows for reading and minting articles within the core community, adoption has become more positive. However, the platform has not yet succeeded in attracting significant user participation. Including content published on Mirror, the number of pieces of content minted per week is between 10,000 and 20,000. With on-chain activity and social graphs expected to expand significantly, on-chain publishing may become more attractive, especially among products and brands that aim to activate Web3 communities.
Noteworthy projects
1) Dracula
Drakula is an on-chain short video platform that mimics the functionality of TikTok. Like Friend Tech, Drakula allows users to trade tokens of content creators, who can earn commissions from each transaction. The platform uses Degen tokens as its main currency, and users can earn its proprietary point token Drip through content creation and sharing, or tip creators.
Initially, Drakula had little connection with established protocols or communities, and the first version did not meet market expectations. However, with the rapid growth of the Farcaster and Degen communities on Base, Drakula strategically adjusted and relaunched the second version. This update included integration with the Farcaster protocol, allowing cross-platform uploads, which was more in line with community interests. This adjustment was successful, attracting 25,000 users and generating $10 million in trading volume. Nevertheless, the platform has recently seen a decline in trading volume and user engagement as speculative interest has decreased.
2） Sound.xyz
Sound.xyz is a music NFT platform that was founded in 2021 and has a slightly longer history than Base. The platform has received significant support from venture capital firm a16z, which invested $5 million and $20 million in 2021 and 2023, respectively. In the two years since its launch, Sound.xyz has minted 1.2 million music NFTs and paid out $6 million in creator rewards to more than 2,500 artists. The collaboration with Snoop Dogg and the tracks released by Optimism Collective are its most successful minting examples. Currently, Sound.xyz operates on the Base and Optimism blockchains, and the track data is stored on IPFS.
Creators use Sound.xyz to release their music as NFTs, and fans can not only listen to the tracks, but own them, supporting artists beyond traditional means. Users can leave public comments to enhance social interaction. In addition, music NFTs provide unique benefits such as Discord invitations or early access to unreleased tracks, fostering a strong connection between artists and fans. While on-chain music listening and casting is not yet fully mainstream, the expansion of on-chain social networks shows that the future of professional content services is bright. With the recent emergence of similar platforms like Crate and Songcamp, the new category of on-chain music platforms has significant potential and deserves attention.
game
Despite long-term experiments and attempts, games in Web3 have not yet achieved many success stories as expected. Even in the Base ecosystem, where consumer applications are most active, the adoption of on-chain games is still relatively rare. This slow adoption is partly attributed to the fact that the cryptocurrency user base is mainly composed of investors and traders, not gamers.
The demand is mainly focused on games with simple mechanics, token economics, and user interaction. On the other hand, traditional games that emphasize graphics and action are less popular. In addition, social features have become essential in Web3 games. Features such as leaderboards, chats, and community building enable players to compete or cooperate within the community. These features help players continue to interact outside the game and develop strategies effectively.
At the same time, projects similar to traditional games have begun to emerge in the Base ecosystem. Iskra is a typical example, which recently announced that it will launch an L3 chain on Base. Given that games focus on optimizing user experience rather than security and centralization, L3's ability to provide low transaction costs, fast processing speeds, and customized functions may be a reasonable choice.
main project
1）FrenPet
FrenPet, an on-chain game where players raise virtual digital pets on Base, was launched last year. It quickly attracted a lot of interest and user growth. To date, more than 20,000 wallets have been registered and the game has generated more than $3.5 million in protocol fees. Gameplay involves casting pets and nurturing their growth to earn points. FrenPet requires constant player interaction, such as feeding pets or participating in pet battles, which enhances game activities.
The game's main currency, FP, serves as both a revenue source for the protocol and a reward for top players. A portion of each purchase of in-game items is burned, and another portion is redistributed to leaders on the leaderboard. This model increases active participation. FrenPet shares some similarities with Friend Tech, such as token burning, redistribution, and in-app exchange. However, instead of the social elements of Friend Tech, it uses on-chain pets to encourage continuous interaction. Like the first version of Friend Tech, FrenPet's structure relies on an influx of new users to maintain the token value, and existing users may exit in large numbers if the influx stops. With continuous updates to the game mechanics and token economics, it will be worth watching to see if FrenPet can maintain its trajectory.
2) Spark
Launched in 2022, Iskra is a Web3 gaming platform designed for developers and players. It offers intuitive and casual games that are easy to get started even for people who are new to crypto. The platform hosts six games, including the role-playing P2E game 3 Kingdoms Multiverse, the casino game World of Win, and the cooking simulation game Norma in Metaland. In addition, Iskra enhances user engagement through projects such as the Quest Wall and Iskra Arcade, where players can complete tasks to receive in-game rewards.
Previously operating on Klaytn and Ethereum, Iskra recently migrated to Base's L3 chain, which comes with a major update that has raised expectations. Along with the move to Base, Iskra launched ClashMon, a game where players collect characters and form teams to fight, providing a SocialFi-like user experience that is currently generating significant transaction volume and buzz. Iskra is also preparing to launch new games, such as the casual TPS game "Juicy Adventure" and the tower defense game "Guardians of Spark". The L3 chain transferred to Base is expected to bring higher accessibility and lower costs, attract more users and form a positive cycle of more game projects entering the platform.
Noteworthy projects
1）Uncut
Developed by Team REKT, Uncut is a social card trading game based on Farcaster profiles. Its mechanics and UI are almost identical to Fantasy.top by Blast. Players use the in-game currency Degen tokens to purchase other users' Farcaster profiles and form teams. Every time their cards are traded, they earn commissions and receive dividends from the Degen pool. This pool is distributed weekly based on their team's score.
Since its launch, Uncut has spread rapidly within the Farcaster community, achieving $200,000 in transaction volume in just three days. Although still in its early stages and not significantly different from Fantasy.top, Uncut shows potential for growth. By leveraging the Farcaster protocol’s open data sets and social graphs, it enables a variety of interactive functions in a variety of applications.
Additionally, a notable aspect of Uncut’s history is that its initial version was hacked by a malicious user immediately after its release in April. You can read more about this incident here. Despite this serious setback, the team did not stop the project. They re-released a second version within a month and fully compensated the affected users, demonstrating resilience and a strong sense of responsibility.
2）WorldPvP
World PvP is a social trading game where 211 nations compete over seven days based on the market capitalization of their respective coins. It quickly became popular on Twitter after its launch, achieving $31 million in trading volume in just five days. At the end of each seven-day round, the nation with the highest market capitalization can unlock a nuclear missile. This missile can be used to remove liquidity from the target nation. Half of the removed liquidity is used to buy back the winning nation's tokens, and the other half is randomly allocated to another nation. The right to select the target nation is held by the user who owns the most tokens from that nation. The game continues running rounds, and the last remaining nation is declared the winner.
It is worth noting that more and more applications are making social features core to the gameplay. A key feature of World PvP is the chat on the interface. Each country has a chat room accessed by tokens, and there is a global chat room where all players can communicate. Players' usernames display the flag of the country where they hold the most tokens. In addition to in-game chat, World PvP players are also very active on external channels such as Twitter and Telegram, where they engage in various strategic and political activities. This behavior highlights that even games with simple mechanics can strongly attract communities and combine social features, as demonstrated by games such as Blast's Fantasy.top and Solana's Pump.fun.
Business & Lifestyle
Of all the consumer application areas for cryptocurrencies, payments are one area where they have a clear advantage over their traditional counterparts. Cryptocurrency payments are cheaper and faster than traditional financial systems. This shows that cryptocurrencies have great potential in online business and commerce, where the efficiency of payment systems is crucial to success. Recently, mainstream fintech companies have also been rapidly adopting cryptocurrencies. Shopify and Stripe have added cryptocurrency payment features, and major payment gateway companies such as PayPal and Visa are also issuing or preparing to issue stablecoins.
While the supply side of cryptocurrency payment systems is expanding, adoption on the demand side remains relatively low. This is mainly due to the poor user experience compared to traditional payment systems. Most on-chain payments are only accessible to users with crypto wallets and funds. In addition, each platform supports different chains or tokens, resulting in cumbersome user processes.
In order for cryptocurrency payments to be accepted by a wider range of customers, simplifying the user experience is crucial. This involves abstracting away the complexity of chains and tokens, enabling consumers to easily pay regardless of the underlying technology. In addition, enhancing wallet interfaces to make them more user-friendly will play a key role in making cryptocurrencies more practical for everyday transactions.
Despite the challenges, cryptocurrency payments and commerce show great potential for growth. The Smart Wallet developed by Coinbase is a good example. It simplifies the user experience by allowing payments with assets held in Coinbase, eliminating the need to create a wallet or back up a mnemonic. In addition, new wallet creation and verification standards are proposed at the protocol level, which will smooth the user's onboarding experience if applied. The increase in consumer applications and social networks in the Base ecosystem may also support emerging on-chain commerce. Many people believe that integrating cryptocurrencies into existing business platforms and fintech services is the only way to activate cryptocurrency payments and commerce. However, given the expansion of consumer applications and on-chain social networks, a new Web3 business model and platform may be derived from internal innovation rather than external help.
main project
1）Coinbase Commerce
Launched in 2018, Coinbase Commerce currently operates on the Ethereum, Polygon, and Base networks, serving thousands of merchants and stores around the world. Its major corporate clients include Messari, Chain Analysis, and the Chicago Bulls. Retail sellers can integrate the solution into their online stores through platforms such as WooCommerce, Shopify, or Primer. Despite being one of the most well-known on-chain payment projects, Coinbase Commerce has a daily transaction volume of approximately $30,000 on Base, indicating that the adoption of cryptocurrencies in commerce is still low.
Recently, Coinbase Commerce open-sourced the code for its on-chain payment protocol. The protocol uses an intent-based payment mechanism that allows buyers and sellers to pay or receive payments in their preferred tokens. Sellers can choose to settle transactions in the token of their choice, such as USDC, without having to worry about the volatility of the token. Buyers can pay in their preferred tokens without having to constantly swap tokens. Payment fees (excluding network processing costs) are around 1%, which is cheaper than international or typical card transaction fees. Processing buyer payments and seller settlements is managed by entities called operators, similar to payment gateways in traditional finance. But the difference is that it works in a decentralized manner, allowing participation without Coinbase's permission.
2）Blackbird
Blackbird is a loyalty and membership platform for restaurants that issues memberships through NFTs and provides customers with various rewards and benefits. At the end of 2023, Blackbird received a $24 million investment from A16Z and previously raised $11 million from Union Square Ventures. Founder Ben Leventhal has nearly 20 years of rich entrepreneurial background in the catering and food and beverage industry. In 2005, he founded Eater, a food and local restaurant media, and later founded Resy, a well-known restaurant reservation website, which he sold to American Express in 2019.
The features provided by Blackbird help individual restaurants that lack advanced data and marketing capabilities convert customers into regular customers and enhance their competitive advantage in the local market. Every time a customer visits a restaurant and interacts with the device, they will be rewarded with $FLY tokens and enjoy benefits. Restaurants can set their own membership levels, provide various benefits based on visit frequency, or use the SMS function to easily manage reservation changes or additional seat requests. In addition, Blackbird provides restaurants with important customer information such as birthdays in order to provide targeted benefits to each customer. This helps improve customer management and service levels, which is often difficult for local restaurants to do.
Blackbird launched a pilot program last year and has since issued about 80,000 membership NFTs to about 30,000 users. Currently, Blackbird serves more than 100 restaurants in New York City, particularly in Manhattan, and is expanding to two other U.S. cities, including Los Angeles.
Noteworthy projects
1） Slice.so
Slice.so is a platform that allows users to issue and sell a variety of products on-chain, including event tickets, merchandise, and digital and physical items. Although on-chain commerce is still in its early stages, Slice.so has increased its visibility by operating cafes and merchandise stores at Base's online and offline events since last year. A key feature of Slice.so is the use of ERC-1155 NFTs to represent ownership, called Slices. These NFTs represent ownership and revenue of the store, and the owner can transfer or sell their shares. For example, if a user owns 10% of the Slices issued, they will receive 10% of the store's revenue.
With Slice.so, sellers can offer a variety of products on-chain without restrictions. Event tickets can be authenticated by verifying the holder's address at the venue. For physical goods, buyers are provided with a product exchange link and enter their shipping information for delivery. In addition, Slice.so enhances the sales experience through features such as revenue sharing, support for various token payments, discounts, token gating, and NFT issuance.
4 Conclusion
Despite launching less than a year ago, Base has quickly become a hub for consumer applications. Behind the emergence and success of Base is a mission to spread cryptocurrency to a wider audience, as well as a focus on creators and developers. In the Base ecosystem, users often encounter unique experiences not found on other blockchains or even traditional Web2 services. The rise of Base does not just represent the emergence of a new rollup ecosystem; it represents the rise of a new category of on-chain applications that are accessible to a wider audience. The dynamic and rapidly evolving landscape of the Base ecosystem suggests that we may be witnessing the next phase of this industry, where on-chain applications will permeate our daily lives and become indistinguishable from Web2 services.
