July 15, 2024
Executive Summary
Base is an Ethereum L2 (Layer 2) launched by Coinbase. It facilitates inexpensive and fast transactions while providing the economic security of Ethereum. Base launched on the 9th of August 2023 and in 2024 it became one of the leading L2s.
Key Features
Low Costs: Base is an Ethereum L2, which offers the same developer kit and user experience as Ethereum at a fraction of the cost. Swap transactions on Base cost between 5c and 50c vs $10 to $60 on Ethereum.
Backed by Coinbase: Coinbase has more than 110mn registered customers and is the most trusted crypto exchange globally. We believe that Coinbase will continue to integrate directly with Base, allowing its customers to interact with any app on the chain directly from their Coinbase accounts.
EVM compatible: Base is EVM compatible, which means that every application that is built on Ethereum or other EVM chains can be easily ported to Base. This is not the case with non-EVM chains like Solana or Injective, where every app needs to be built from scratch.
Built on the Optimism stack: Base is powered by the Optimism stack, which is an open-source protocol for scaling Ethereum. Optimism, which is one of the main ETH L2s, is also powered by the OP stack
How to Use Base
To use Base you need to install a self-hosted wallet. We recommend using MetaMask or Rabby. You can check the following guide to set up MetaMask and the following guide to set up Rabby. After setting up the wallet you can send funds directly from a centralized exchange like Coinbase or Binance or use the official Base Bridge to transfer funds from Ethereum. We recommend sending funds from a centralized exchange to save on gas fees.
TVL and Activity
Base boasts $5.6bn in TVL, making it the third-largest L2 by total value locked.
Recently, Base became the chain with the most activity across Ethereum and its scaling solutions. Currently, Base has an average of 28 transactions per second (TPS), while Ethereum averages 13.5 TPS. Additionally, in the last 30 days, Base processed 2x more transactions than Ethereum.
Main Base Apps
Base offers the same functionality as Ethereum at a fraction of the cost. Users can use it to exchange tokens, yield farm, and buy and sell NFTs.
Aerodrome: Aerodrome is the leading DEX (Decentralized Exchange) on Base with a current TVL of $690m. Aerodrome is native to Base and is inspired by Velodrome, a DEX on Optimism. You can use Aerodrome to swap tokens or deposit in liquidity pools for yield.
Uniswap: Uniswap is the first and largest DEX and is also available on Base with a TVL of $226m. Uniswap has the same functions and usability as Aerodrome.
1inch: 1inch is a DEX aggregator that combines liquidity from different exchanges to offer the best prices and lowest slippage. We advise to always use 1inch, when available, when making on-chain transactions.
Compound: Compound is a lending and borrowing app with a TVL of $43m on Base. Currently, the only supported assets are USDC and Ethereum and users can deposit them to get yield or take on leverage
Aave: Aave is the leading EVM lending and borrowing protocol and has a TVL of $42m on Base. It supports USDC, Ethereum and various versions of staked ETH.
Beefy: Beefy is a yield aggregator platform that automatically manages positions for investors. For example, if you deposit USDC in a Beefy lending pool it will automatically harvest the rewards and invest them back in the pool at no additional cost, thus saving on gas fees and manual labor. We advise using Beefy for yield farming because it offers a higher yield at a lower cost compared to farming manually.
OpenSea: OpenSea is one of the main NFT trading platforms and the leading NFT app on Base. Users can buy and sell NFTs and both crypto and fiat can be used for payments.
Main Base Projects
The Base ecosystem is relatively young and is currently dominated mostly by memes. Below we discuss some of the leading projects on Base, along with their current valuations.
friend.tech (FRIEND): friend.tech is a social platform which is fully on-chain. It has an interface similar to Twitter and every account has “keys”. In order to communicate with other people you need to purchase their key. The price of each individual key is driven by demand. The more people that buy a key of someone, the higher the price goes and vice versa. The friend.tech token (FRIEND) launched on the 3rd of May and currently trades at $2.93 with a market cap of $260m.
Brett (BRETT): Brett is a memecoin launched in February 2024. BRETT was inspired by Pepe on Ethereum and is dubbed as “Pepe’s best friend on Base”. Brett has a market cap of $347m and currently trades at 4c.
Degen (DEGEN): Degen is the unofficial token of Farcaster, a decentralized social network similar to friend.tech. “Degen” is a crypto slang for investors with a high-risk tolerance. Degen launched in January 2024 and currently trades at 2.3c with a market cap of $288m.
Base God (TYBG): Base God is a memecoin on Base launched in January 2024. The whole name of the project is Thank You Base God and is a tribute to Brian Armstrong. Base chain doesn’t have its own token and TYBG could become the de facto symbol of Base if it continues to gain traction or if Coinbase wins its case against the SEC. Base God trades at 0.00013 and has a market cap of $16m.
Key Personnel
Jesse Pollak: Jesse is the founder of Base and has been working at Coinbase since 2017 as a software engineer. Jesse is very active on X and often posts updates regarding Base there.
Brian Armstrong: Brian is the founder and CEO of Coinbase. Brian has been a long-time supporter of bringing apps on-chain and decentralizing Web2 infrastructure.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this research paper is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment guidance, or any solicitation to buy or sell financial instruments. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Kollectiv.
2024