The Ethereum ecosystem continues to evolve rapidly as developers seek solutions to its most pressing challenges: scalability, high gas fees, and onboarding new users. Among the most promising answers to these concerns is Base, a Layer-2 blockchain created by Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the United States. Built in collaboration with Optimism using the OP Stack, Base represents one of the most significant efforts yet to bridge the gap between mainstream crypto users and the decentralized world.
In this article, we explore what Base is, how it works, and why it matters – along with a look at the powerful momentum it has gained in 2024.
Understanding Base: The Foundation
Base is a scalable Layer-2 network that operates on top of Ethereum. It’s fully EVM-compatible, which means it supports Ethereum-based smart contracts without modification. Developers can deploy their existing Solidity contracts, and users can interact with dApps as they would on the Ethereum mainnet – but with significantly lower costs and faster speeds.
What sets Base apart from other Layer-2 chains is its origin and integration. As a project incubated by Coinbase, Base has access to one of the largest centralized user bases in crypto. It’s deeply integrated into the Coinbase ecosystem, which includes Coinbase Wallet, exchange tools, developer APIs, and fiat on/off ramps. This significantly lowers the barrier to entry for developers and users alike.
Technical Foundation: Powered by the OP Stack
Base is built on the OP Stack, the open-source modular framework developed by the Optimism Collective. The OP Stack uses Optimistic Rollups, a technology that bundles large numbers of transactions off-chain and submits them as a single batch to Ethereum.
This system drastically improves throughput and lowers gas costs without compromising Ethereum’s security. Because Base inherits its settlement layer from Ethereum, it maintains the same trustless execution guarantees while avoiding network congestion.
The OP Stack is also designed with modularity in mind. It allows future upgrades, customization, and even collaboration across chains – aligning Base with the broader vision of a Superchain: a network of interoperable, Ethereum-secured Layer-2s.
2024: A Breakout Year for Base
Base launched its public mainnet in August 2023, and since then, its adoption has exceeded expectations. By 2024, it had become one of the most active Layer-2 chains in the world, regularly outperforming older networks like Arbitrum and Optimism in terms of raw usage metrics.
Key Milestones and Metrics:
Daily Transactions:
- January 2024: 372,000
- October 2024: Over 6.6 million
That’s a more than 1,600% increase in less than a year.
Weekly Active Addresses:
- January 2024: ~300,000 unique wallets
- October 2024: Over 6.6 million
Growth of 2,100%, reflecting mass adoption and strong user retention.
Total Value Locked (TVL):
- January 2024: $439 million
- October 2024: $2.51 billion
Base has seen a 470% growth in locked value across its ecosystem, driven by DeFi protocols and on-chain applications.
Stablecoin Transfer Volume:
- January 2024: ~$620 million (weekly)
- November 2024: ~$55 billion
An 8,800% surge in stablecoin usage, positioning Base as a major settlement layer for digital dollars.
These figures not only highlight the chain’s explosive growth but also underscore its increasing importance as a hub for DeFi, gaming, NFTs, and payments.
Ecosystem Growth and Developer Activity
The ecosystem around Base has expanded rapidly, attracting a wide variety of projects and use cases. This includes everything from decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to experimental social apps and NFT marketplaces.
Notable dApps and Projects:
- Friend.tech: A decentralized social network allowing users to tokenize and trade personal access.
- Aerodrome: A high-volume decentralized exchange and liquidity hub native to Base.
- BasePaint: A community art experiment that allows contributors to create collaborative NFTs.
- Uniswap, Compound, Aave: Major Ethereum-native protocols have deployed versions on Base.
- Layer3 and Galxe: Quest-based engagement platforms running campaigns for Base ecosystem onboarding.
The Onchain Summer campaign, launched by Coinbase in 2023, provided grants and incentives to onboard creators and developers to Base, catalyzing a wave of new projects and community engagement.
Security and Infrastructure Advantages
One of the key differentiators of Base is the infrastructure advantage provided by Coinbase. While the chain itself is decentralized and open-source, Coinbase acts as a reliable gateway to the network — giving users easy access through fiat payments, account abstraction features, and wallet support.
Base benefits from:
- Robust audit practices and security reviews
- Integration into Coinbase products (Wallet, Exchange, Commerce)
- Trusted UX that simplifies crypto for mainstream users
At the same time, Base does not rely solely on Coinbase’s servers or validators. It uses Ethereum as its settlement layer and follows the same decentralized verification path as other Optimism-based rollups.
Strategic Importance in the Ethereum Ecosystem
Base plays a critical role in the long-term roadmap of Ethereum scaling. While Ethereum itself transitions toward proto-danksharding and more native scalability, Layer-2s like Base are already helping offload congestion and experiment with new models of interaction.
Because Base is part of the Superchain vision, it is designed to be interoperable with other chains using the OP Stack. This opens the door to a multi-chain Ethereum future, where users and assets can move seamlessly across ecosystems.
Final Thoughts
Base is not just another Ethereum scaling solution. It’s a powerful, production-ready Layer-2 network with deep roots in both decentralized infrastructure and centralized accessibility. Its explosive growth in 2024 proves that users and developers are ready for faster, cheaper, and more intuitive blockchain experiences — and that Layer-2s are where that future begins.
By lowering friction for developers, integrating with Coinbase’s trusted platform, and scaling with the OP Stack, Base is uniquely positioned to play a defining role in the mass adoption of Web3.
As we move into a new phase of on-chain activity, Base offers a compelling model for how centralized exchanges and decentralized protocols can collaborate — not compete — to build the internet of value.
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