Within just a week of its public launch, Base, Coinbase’s Layer 2 blockchain for Ethereum, has surpassed dominant players Arbitrum and Optimism in daily transaction counts. The recent figures from The Block indicate Base’s seven-day moving average hit 610,000 transactions on August 15, overshadowing both Optimism and Arbitrum.
This rapid uptake was significantly bolstered by the social platform friend.tech, which led Base’s daily active users to soar past 100,000 within 24 hours of its mainnet going live. Additionally, Base maintained an edge in new daily unique addresses and profits in its initial launch days.
However, despite its strong debut, Base witnessed a slight dip in metrics over the past few days, with 642.884K of total accounts created, and 13846 new accounts created everyday as of 18th August, 2023 (compared to 47,368 on August 11, 2023)
compared to Optimism’s 32,300 and Arbitrum’s 29,100. Furthermore, Base’s daily revenue of $30,450 pales in comparison to Arbitrum’s robust $132,966 and Optimism’s $89,719.
In terms of total value locked, Base, which now stands at $163 million, has some catching up to do.
Both Arbitrum and Optimism remain dominant in this area with $1.75 billion and $742.3m billion in assets, respectively.
Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 solution aims to offer a more efficient and affordable scaling solution, promising reduced transaction fees and swifter transaction speeds than Ethereum. Several high-profile DeFi protocols, including Uniswap, SushiSwap, and Compound, were among the pioneers to adopt Base.
Moreover, Base has recently initiated its “Onchain Summer” campaign, highlighting the efficacy and affordability of the Layer 2 solution through a series of onchain art, gaming, and music endeavors. Notably, Coca-Cola’s unique NFT collection, fusing iconic art pieces with the renowned beverage brand, is a highlight of this event.
Despite its early success, concerns about potential scams on the Base blockchain have arisen. In response, Coinbase has voiced its commitment to user safety by developing an open-source monitoring tool named Pessimism, which aims to promptly identify discrepancies in the protocol, thereby bolstering user trust in projects on Base.
The coming months will reveal whether Base can sustain its early momentum and solidify its position in the fiercely competitive Layer 2 landscape.
