Coinbase-Backed Base Soars Past Optimism, Now Second-Largest Ethereum Scaler

Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network launched by Coinbase, has seen explosive growth in recent months, surpassing Optimism and now ranking as the second-largest Ethereum scaler by Total Value Locked (TVL).

Base Surges in Popularity

Base’s TVL, which represents the total value of crypto assets locked on the network, has reached $8.05 billion as of June 10th. This includes over $5.9 billion in native assets minted on Base and $2.14 billion bridged from Ethereum.

Base reached the $1 billion TVL mark in February, just seven months after its launch. However, the past few months have been exceptional, with TVL increasing eightfold in just 104 days.

Base boasts the highest transaction processing speed among Ethereum layer-2 solutions, averaging 30.36 transactions per second over the last month. This surpasses even Arbitrum One, the current TVL leader.

Profitable Network Attracts Users

According to Dune Analytics, Base has raked in the most on-chain profits over the past three months, peaking at a record $16.9 million in March. While profits dipped in May, Base remains the most profitable layer-2 network, outpacing Optimism by a significant margin.

This profitability is partly attributed to the surge in memecoin activity earlier in 2024. However, this also attracted scammers, leading to an 18-fold increase in stolen funds from phishing scams between January and March.

Base Takes Over Uniswap DEX Volume

Data from Token Terminal reveals that Base has surpassed Ethereum in terms of daily active users on Uniswap, the leading decentralized exchange. As of June 10th, 36.30% of Uniswap’s daily active users were on Base, compared to 23.74% on Ethereum.

Challenges Remain

While Base thrives, the Ethereum network itself is experiencing a decline in activity. The number of daily active addresses on Ethereum has fallen by 5.8% in the past month, impacting network revenue generation.