Author: UNAI
In just a few months, Base has rapidly transformed from a relatively unfamiliar Layer 2 project into a leader of Ethereum-compatible ecosystems, with a TVL (Total Value Locked) exceeding 3.85 billion dollars, surpassing Arbitrum and Optimism, becoming the most competitive new giant in the Layer 2 market. Backed by Coinbase and supported by North American capital, the Base ecosystem experienced explosive growth in 2024, with capital inflow in November exceeding that of Solana, becoming one of the hottest wealth tracks in the blockchain field. However, despite Base achieving significant results in capital inflow and ecosystem growth, its on-chain transaction volume has not surpassed Solana, indicating that while rapidly expanding, Base still faces dual challenges of sustained growth and market competition.
Taking market value as an example, Clanker's CLANKER token has reached a market value of 70 million dollars, reflecting the immense attraction of the Base ecosystem and the current craze. Unlike traditional VC coin mechanisms, the rise of Meme tokens drives on-chain data and users' trading behaviors back to exchange listings, forming a new ecological model. Users accumulate chips on-chain, then use exchange liquidity to exit. This approach pushes CEX (centralized exchanges) to the market's corners, which I believe is a strong hint of the true early bull market, similar to the on-chain liquidity scene that exploded during the DeFi Summer of 2020. This innovative mechanism showcases the vitality of the Base ecosystem while also 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 ecological projects is like a couple dancing together, inseparable and mutually supportive. Whether Base, as a public chain, can leverage the empowerment of AI Agents and Meme culture to break through the 4 billion dollar TVL barrier and become a market leader remains an unresolved challenge. At the same time, whether ecological projects like Clanker and Virtual Protocol can find fertile ground for growth in the Base ecosystem and rise with market heat is also worth paying attention to. Clanker and Virtual Protocol are representative projects in this round of Base craze, the former as a 'machine for creating popular Memes', while the latter spans different development paths from GameFi to AI infrastructure to consumer platforms, both capturing market opportunities and becoming focal points. Through the rise of these projects, we see the appeal of the Base ecosystem and the current market frenzy, showcasing the deep entanglements and tacit understandings between public chains and projects, where despite the boundless romance, there is still a driving force of business and market interests behind.
Clanker: The 'Hit Meme' manufacturing machine of the Base ecosystem
Clanker, like a mad invention from (Rick and Morty), has become a reality in the laboratory of the Base public chain—it's an AI Agent full of quirky ideas, focusing on turning elusive ideas into real-world Meme tokens using social media and smart contracts. Imagine, like Rick, waving your hand, @clanker directly deploys an ERC-20 token on Farcaster, along with liquidity pools and smart lock features—this is not just a magic of technology, but a carnival of decentralized narratives. Clanker simplifies the operational process, relying on Clanker.sol contracts to mint ERC-20 tokens, initialize Uniswap V3 pools, inject and lock liquidity. Users only need to make a simple request on Farcaster to easily complete the deployment and distribution of tokens, and so far multiple Meme tokens with a market value of over ten million dollars have been created. It breaks down technical barriers, giving everyone the opportunity to become creators of the Meme economy, while creating real profits for the community through a 40% transaction fee sharing mechanism.
Clanker technical implementation flowchart
However, this carnival is not just for entertainment. Clanker is exploring how to integrate the concept of DeSci (decentralized science) into its system. For example, future tokens may no longer just be funny or sentimental, but rather carry functions for research funding, sharing experimental results, or supporting open-source tools. Just like Rick inventively solving cosmic problems, Clanker's tokens may become experimental tools in 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 is not only refreshing but also opens up an unexpected future for blockchain applications.
Clanker is such a crazy and creative laboratory, continuously expanding the boundaries of Web3 amid laughter and innovation. Who knows, the next industry to be rewritten by it might be science?
Market performance of the three major tokens: CLANKER, LUM, ANON
The issuance stories of the three major tokens, CLANKER, LUM, ANON, especially the combination of ANON with the anonymous posting tool anoncast, even attracted the attention of Ethereum founder Vitalik. It's also worth noting that the birth of AI Meme Luminous ($LUM) came from a spark of inspiration within the Farcaster community, where a user proposed the bold idea of creating a token symbolizing the collaboration between humans and AI: weaving blue and gold light streams representing AI and human consciousness into an infinite loop, with a deep space background conveying 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 a 40% transaction fee rebate mechanism fully automated. $LUM not only lowers technical barriers with simplified operational processes 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. With powerful community dissemination, $LUM has surpassed a market value of 30 million dollars from inspiration.
On one hand, Clanker, as an innovative platform, greatly reduces technical barriers by simplifying user operation processes (e.g., generating tokens directly through @clanker) and collaborating with AI to issue tokens, allowing anyone to participate in the creation and dissemination of Meme tokens. On the other hand, spectators cannot help but wonder if Clanker's model can be sustained? As a 'crypto-ified' project, its current model focuses on speculation and dissemination, lacking actual 'use' scenarios. I would like to invoke the thoughts of cultural anthropologists; in reality, a culture is neither a purely physical process nor a purely ideal construction. It is a living entity rooted in the soil, encompassing the simple instinctive lives of shepherds, fishermen, and farmers, as well as the highest achievements of artists and philosophers; just as individuals closely combine the nourishment and reproduction of animal life with higher rational and intellectual activities. As the world shifts from the tangible to the intangible, Clanker may not only serve as a technical tool but more importantly, as a core engine of innovation and cultural dissemination within the Base ecosystem, gradually promoting community interaction and the release of creativity.
Virtual Protocol: Inspirational entrepreneurial stories in the crypto space
Although both belong to the Base ecosystem, Virtual has chosen a completely different path: focusing on product-driven development, emphasizing the link between AI and Web2 users, gradually building a high-frequency 'use' tool system. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and A16Z co-founder Marc Andreessen pointed out the unique advantages of the Virtual team in high-frequency trial and error. From PathDAO to Virtual Protocol, the team has spent three years crossing GameFi, AI infrastructure, and consumer DApps, achieving a miracle where market value grew from 10 million dollars to 1 billion dollars.
Early GitHub of PathDAO and the Twitter of the ecological leader
Virtual includes a diverse product line, including modules like MyShell's Alpp Store, although the market value and call volume of individual products are not as high as Clanker's Meme tokens in the crypto space, it has opened up space in the Web2 tool scenario. $VIRTUAL is the native token of the Virtuals Protocol platform, designed specifically for the AI agent ecosystem. Users need to use $VIRTUAL to purchase AGENT tokens (such as $LUNA) and cannot exchange them for other tokens, making $VIRTUAL the only channel to enter this ecosystem and purchase and invest in AI agents. The VIRTUAL token plays a key role in the entire system, driving economic activity within the platform and ensuring decentralization and fair distribution. Most agents on the platform represent specific personalities or characters, such as virtual life forms, frogs, memes, Donald Trump, Taylor Swift, etc. At the same time, developers are also creating functional agents to enhance user interaction with AI virtual life forms and ensure they can seamlessly integrate into the virtual world. These agents can not only generate real income but also achieve long-term growth and co-ownership through tokenization mechanisms. Participants can share the potential returns brought by agents by holding $VIRTUAL tokens and purchasing $LUNA tokens.
However, Virtual is under scrutiny from Degen for its 'usability'—is its tool-like product 'putting the cart before the horse'? As a cryptocurrency ecological project, its core is 'use', not 'speculation', but does this mean it has lost its propagation value?
Clanker: The 'rebel' of Liangshan
Clanker is more like Song Jiang just before the Liangshan uprising, leveraging its organizational power and dissemination effect to let a group of heroes occupy a place in chaotic times. Clanker attracts a large number of users from the crypto space by creating hot Meme tokens, generating a fervent market atmosphere, akin to Liangshan's 'acting on behalf of heaven' slogan, spreading the ideology of rebellion across the world.
But the issue is that Liangshan's banner ultimately serves merely as a slogan, lacking lasting support. Many tokens issued by Clanker have high market values but remain at the conceptual level, without solid use cases. This model resembles Liangshan's desperate struggle for survival in chaotic times, continuously expanding influence through 'speculation', but it may not be able to sustain in the long run.
Virtual: The 'submission faction' of Liangshan
In contrast, Virtual's path resembles the submission faction in Liangshan. Their core demand is not resistance, but rather to let their brothers eat and drink, pursuing stability and order. Virtual focuses on refining product functionality, empowering users through AI tools, and bridging the gap between Web2 and Web3, resembling Liangshan's efforts to maintain a 'legitimate status' after accepting the court's submission.
Virtual emphasizes 'use' rather than 'speculation'. Although its tool-like products are frequently used, they lack the propagation effect of cryptocurrencies, just like Liangshan after submission, which solved short-term livelihood issues but lost the original spirit of resistance. This model may offer more stability in the short term, but whether it can sustain the ideological values of cryptocurrencies remains uncertain.
Ideological resistance vs. livelihood compromise
The core contradiction of the Liangshan uprising 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 final submission is a choice to find a realistic home for his brothers. This transformation showcases the conflict between ideals and reality—ideals are resistance, while reality is compromise.
Similarly, the divergence between Clanker and Virtual reflects another contradiction in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the opposition between 'speculation' and 'use', which actually reflects a deeper issue in cryptocurrency: as BTC and ETH are gradually accepted by the mainstream and enter the era of store of value and compliance, do we need more product innovation or stronger ideological dissemination? Just as Song Jiang sighed while overlooking the army camp from the mountain: 'Since we are grass bandits, how can we not return to the court? If we rebel, it is only to seek a stable life; how can we always be rebels?' This statement aptly expresses the psychological journey from resistance to realistic compromise, also providing a mirror for us to think about the future of cryptocurrency.
