Why Base’s Daily Active Addresses Surged Beyond 2 Million

Base’s Surge in Daily Active Addresses: What’s Behind the Growth?

Base, the Ethereum layer-2 protocol developed by Coinbase, has recently seen a significant rise in activity, resulting in a sharp increase in daily active addresses. According to data from the on-chain analytics platform IntoTheBlock, this growth can be attributed to the introduction of two key features: Coinbase Wrapped Bitcoin (cbBTC) and the Base Name Service (BNS).

Factors Driving the Surge in Base Active Addresses

Coinbase launched cbBTC on both Base and Ethereum on September 12, following the earlier integration of the Lightning Network for Bitcoin (BTC) transfers. This wrapped token is backed 1:1 by BTC and held by Coinbase, enabling users to access a wide range of decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, protocols, and use cases.

• cbBTC quickly attracted over 3,500 users within two weeks of its launch.
• On average, $472 million worth of BTC is settled on Base daily.

While cbBTC has played a major role in driving this growth, the excitement surrounding the Base Name Service (BNS) has had an even larger impact, according to IntoTheBlock.

Base Name Service (BNS): A Major Contributor

Coinbase introduced the Base Name Service (BNS) on August 21, offering users the ability to establish their identity on the network through human-readable names for their addresses. Similar to Ethereum Name Service (ENS), BNS provides a unified name service for all users on Base.

Within three days of BNS launching, Base’s daily active addresses soared to 1.05 million. Just one month later, this figure has doubled, now surpassing two million.

Base Dominates Layer-2 Networks

According to data from Ethereum layer-2 analytics platform GrowThePie, Base now accounts for 70% of all active addresses among Ethereum-based layer-2 networks. In contrast, Arbitrum, the next largest competitor, holds just 9.6% of active addresses.

• Base surpassed Arbitrum in active addresses in late June and has maintained its lead since then.
• Over the past week, Base recorded more than 6.8 million active addresses, compared to fewer than 943,000 for Arbitrum.

cbBTC Faces Criticism Despite Success

While cbBTC has contributed significantly to Base’s growth, it has not been without controversy. Some in the crypto community have expressed concerns about Coinbase’s lack of transparency regarding its Bitcoin reserves. Additionally, cbBTC’s user agreement has raised eyebrows, as it indicates that Coinbase may not fully reimburse users for BTC lost due to malicious activity or unforeseen events.