The number of developers is second only to Ethereum, and Base has become a new battleground for traffic in DeFi protocols

Author: Xiyou, ChainCatcher

Editor: Marco, ChainCatcher

On August 15, Growthepie data showed that the daily transaction volume processed by the Ethereum Layer2 ecosystem has exceeded 13 million transactions (approximately 13.15 million), setting a new historical high for daily transaction value. The driving force behind the overall increase in Layer2 ecosystem transaction data is the Base network.

Since late July, the daily transaction volume of the Base network has repeatedly surged to peaks of over 4 million. On July 27, the Base network set a historical record with a daily transaction volume of 4.432 million. In other words, one-third of the transaction volume within the Layer2 ecosystem now occurs on the Base network.

During the same period, Arbitrum had a daily transaction volume of about 1.8 million, Op Mainnet only had 470,000, and the daily transaction volume on the Ethereum mainnet has mostly remained around 1.1 million this year. This indicates that Base has become the most active blockchain network.

This is confirmed by data from the official Base block explorer, Basescan, which shows that the daily transaction volume on the Base network has surged by 700% in the past six months.

According to DeFiLlama data, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in the Base network has reached $6.3 billion, making it the second-largest Layer2 network.

TVL Rises to Second in Layer2 Market, Developer Activity Second Only to Ethereum

August 9 marks the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Base mainnet, and the official team released anniversary NFTs for users to collect for free, with approximately 107,000 NFTs minted. Over the past year, the data growth of the Base network has been remarkable, rising from zero to the forefront of the Layer2 market, with the network's total locked value (TVL) climbing to second place in the Layer2 market, and developer activity becoming the second-largest public chain network, second only to Ethereum.

In addition to a daily transaction volume of up to 4 million, the cumulative number of addresses on the Base chain has surpassed 100 million, with over 500,000 new addresses added daily in the past month.

Community user @Aliba remarked that the growth of Base user data is truly astonishing, increasing by 500,000 in a single day, and in less than a week, it could surpass the total number of addresses before the Arbitrum airdrop, which had just under 2.3 million addresses.

In addition to outstanding performance in daily transaction volume and address growth, the number of locked crypto assets and developer users on the Base chain is also increasing.

On August 19, L2Beat data showed that the TVL of the Base network had reached $6.3 billion, making it the second-largest Layer2 network, with a market share rising to 17.2%, second only to Arbitrum ($14.75 billion).

In the latest Developer Reporter report, the number of developers on the Base network has reached 3,991, a 52% annual increase, making it the fastest-growing developer community among all blockchain networks.

Currently, the number of developers on the Base network is second only to Ethereum, making it the second most active developer network in the entire public chain market.

In terms of revenue, since March, the Base network has ranked first in monthly revenue capture within the Layer2 market. In July, the total revenue of the Base network exceeded $3 million, while the total revenue of mainstream Layer2 networks was only $6.6 million.

If we measure a public chain's moat using the traditional dimensions of "developers + funds + users," the Base network has undoubtedly formed its own ecological barrier.

Catalysts for Base's Data Growth

From the trends in TVL and user activity data, it can be seen that the Base network has experienced explosive growth in on-chain data since adopting the Cancun upgrade and the new Blob data format in mid-March this year.

First, the reduction in on-chain gas fees has released the trading demand of existing users. At the same time, the DEGEN meme coin on the social platform Farcaster has sparked a wave of meme coin speculation, with new meme coins like mfercoin, TYBG (Base Gold), and Brett creating successive waves of beneficial effects, leading many meme projects to announce their migration to the Base network, attracting traffic looking for meme alpha.

In the early days, a significant portion of the funds on the Base chain was speculating around meme coins. However, as the meme speculation craze faded in May, the Base chain seemed unaffected and instead entered a new phase of growth, thanks to the ecological incentive activity "Onchain Summer" launched by the Base official team.

On May 3, the Base official team announced the launch of the annual ecological incentive activity "Onchain Summer," offering over $2 million worth of 600 ETH in prizes, grants, and points for participating builders and users.

The Onchain Summer event lasts for three months (June to August). The first month mainly focuses on the ecological hackathon (Buildation) to attract developers, while the following two months focus on attracting users and driving growth.

This is not the first time Base has held the Onchain Summer event; the first event was launched when the Base network was introduced in August last year, bringing popularity and projects to the Base network, with the once-popular social application Friend Tech emerging during this period.

To attract developers, this hackathon will provide each registered user of Coinbase developers with 0.25 ETH in free gas for use. It also emphasizes that early-funded ecological builders can receive rewards not only from Base but also from other ecosystem partners like Optimism during the Onchain Summer.

In the hackathon that ended on June 30, Base stated that the event attracted over 7,500 developers, with more than 1,250 projects submitted and around 80 winning projects covering areas such as payments, social, gaming, and creator tools. The number of submitted projects and participants made it the largest on-chain hackathon event ever.

In terms of user incentives, participants in the Onchain Summer activities can earn points by completing tasks such as minting NFTs, which can be exchanged for items like physical Base merchandise, T-shirts, and hoodies.

Additionally, Coinbase provides all member users with $10 worth of gas fees each month to help users go on-chain. For the few cents paid for each transaction on the Base chain, this allows each user to conduct hundreds of transactions for free.

Under the incentives of the Onchain Summer ecological activities, a large number of developers, funds, and users have flocked to the Base ecosystem for opportunities. With about 10 days left until the end of the Onchain Summer event, it remains to be seen whether another blockbuster product like Friend Tech will emerge.

DeFi Protocols Rush to Base for New Growth, How Can Users Participate?

On July 10, the second month after the launch of the Onchain Summer incentive activities, Optimism announced the launch of the SuperFest incentive program, allocating 1.5 million OP tokens specifically to reward users exploring DeFi applications on its Superchain, which includes the Base chain and its ecological projects. Under the dual incentive activities, a large number of high-quality DeFi projects and assets have flooded into the Base ecosystem in search of new growth opportunities.

According to Artemis data, in the past year, the proportion of DeFi activity on the Base chain among active addresses has risen from 14% to 28%. In June, the USDC supply on the Base chain exceeded $3 billion, growing over 1,000% in the past 90 days, while on-chain stablecoin transfers increased by 247%.

Currently, 60% of the trading volume on the largest DEX platform, Uniswap, occurs on the Base network, while the Ethereum network contributed only 26% of the trading volume during the same period. The largest native DEX on the Base chain, Aerodrome, ranks in the top six in the DEX sector.

In addition to Uniswap, both new and old DeFi applications that have migrated to the Base chain have achieved varying degrees of development.

On August 1, Circle announced on social media that its euro stablecoin EURC had issued 7.3 million euros in less than two weeks since its launch on the Base chain, increasing the total market cap of EURC by over 20%.

The lending protocol Morpho Labs, which was selected for the OP SuperFest incentive program, has seen its TVL increase by $125 million since expanding to Base in May.

The lending protocol Radiant Capital reported that since launching on the Base network a week ago, its TVL has continuously risen, with deposits increasing by $32 million and loans increasing by over $22 million, accounting for about 16% of Radiant's total TVL on the Base chain.

The contract protocol Synfutures V3 became the top-ranked perp DEX on the Base chain within two weeks of its launch, setting a new high of $98 billion in trading volume in the second quarter.

Seeing the potential for user growth, more and more DeFi protocols are beginning to expand to the Base chain. For example, the LRT protocol Ion protocol announced on July 29 that it would introduce lending of staked and re-staked assets into the Base ecosystem; the lending protocol Fluid stated it would launch on Base later this year; and the liquid staking protocol Moonwell launched the Base-based staking certificate weETH on August 13.

In addition to DeFi protocols, developers are also exploring other new opportunities on the Base chain.

On July 22, B3 game developer NPC Labs announced the completion of a $21 million seed round led by Pantera Capital, aiming to increase on-chain game adoption through the Base-based platform B3.fun.

The influx of numerous DeFi projects and developers has not only enriched the Base ecosystem but also provided users with diverse products and services, increasing their choices.

Currently, there are two main ways for users to participate in the Base chain ecosystem: one is to participate in the Onchain Summer activities, mint activity NFTs, or complete specific tasks to earn on-chain point vouchers, hoping for future ecological project airdrops; the other is to participate in projects incentivized by the OP SuperFest activities to earn additional OP rewards.