Base Achieves New Transaction Milestone While Minimizing Ethereum Rent
Base, Coinbase’s tokenless blockchain, has recently reached a new record for reported transactions, signaling its growing prominence in the blockchain ecosystem. Despite still trailing behind Solana, Base is handling more than 19% of token launches, contributing significantly to overall activity.
Base’s Impressive Growth in Transaction Volume
Base has set another record for overall transactions, surpassing 7.3 million daily transactions. In comparison, Ethereum reports only 1.19 million daily transactions. However, Solana continues to lead with over 270 million transactions on its Layer 1 network.
Despite these differences, Base’s performance is noteworthy. It remains one of the most scalable and liquid Layer 2 (L2) solutions, with widespread adoption and strong marketing support. The network’s liquidity is substantial, carrying over $3.5 billion in stablecoins, second only to Arbitrum with $4.4 billion.
Base Leads in Throughput and Adoption
Base has also taken the lead in throughput, a metric that tracks the complexity of transactions and tasks completed. The growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, particularly the Aerodrome DEX, has been a significant driver of this progress.
Over the past few months, Base has seen an increase in bridged Ethereum (ETH) flowing into DeFi protocols. On busy days, up to $38 million in ETH was bridged. As a result, Base now holds $2.89 billion in total value locked (TVL), with $1.39 billion of that amount tied to Aerodrome, supporting high-velocity trading pairs.
Aerodrome remains the main venue for Ethereum inflows on Base, matching the $1.39 billion in value locked. However, not all traffic on Base is tied to high-value transactions. The blockchain also supports new token launches, meme sharing, and task-based activities, such as those offered by the Rewards.fun app.
Base’s Social and NFT Activity
- DeFi Focus: The primary activity on Base revolves around DeFi, centered around Aerodrome as a liquidity hub.
- Social and Meme Activity: Around 7% of Base’s traffic comes from NFT and social activities.
- Low-Cost NFT and Meme Swaps: Base’s low fees, at $0.0009 per transaction, enable easy meme swaps through apps like Hype.
Base also hosts around $3 billion in tokens, including meme coins from Ethereum and Solana. However, liquidity for new meme tokens is limited, with most of the top tokens being from previous meme cycles, such as Degen (DEGEN) and Heroes of Mavia (MAVIA). One of the latest additions is the native Mogcoin (MOG).
Base’s Potential for a Native Token and Incentives
Although Base has not yet introduced a native token, it offers various incentives and point rewards. Currently, activity on Base is not directly incentivized with the possibility of an airdrop, though the potential for one remains a subject of interest.
Optimizing Ethereum Rent on Base
Base is part of the Optimism superchain and uses optimistic rollups, bringing it closer to decentralization based on Vitalik Buterin’s criteria. However, Base is still considered a Stage 0 chain, as it has yet to meet the exit screen requirements.
Base’s scalability relies on “blobs” and, while it still pays rent to Ethereum, it can adjust its blob posting schedule to minimize fees. Currently, Base generates $237.63K in daily fees while paying just $3.25K to Ethereum. Since the Dencun upgrade in March 2024, most leading L2 chains, including Base, strive to keep their rent to Ethereum as low as possible.
Fee and Rent Management on Base
In October, Base achieved $4.05 million in fees and $3.49 million in total revenues. However, blob space pricing fluctuated, leading to periods of more expensive blob space. L2 chains have had to adjust their posting schedules to secure free blob space. For now, Base has managed to stay below the threshold for paying blob fees, but scaling efforts similar to Solana could lead to higher rent costs in the future.
As of early November, L2 chains experienced blob space saturation on most days of the week, prompting immediate adjustments to posting schedules in order to minimize rent payments.
Ecosystem
Research
News Network
About