After friend.tech, what's next for the Base ecosystem?
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After friend.tech, what's next for the Base ecosystem?
How is the Base chain ecosystem developing?
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Jaden, LD Capital
Two weeks after Friend.tech launched on the Base chain, its user activity has gradually declined. The ETH within its contract even experienced net outflows on August 22, and currently, approximately 3,500 ETH (worth about $5.8 million) remains in the contract. Beyond Friend.tech, how is the Base chain ecosystem developing?
I. On-chain Data
1. TVL
As of August 27, Base's TVL reached $292 million, ranking fifth among Layer 2 networks and accounting for 3% of the L2 market share. Both Base and zkSync have seen slow growth and relative stagnation in TVL.
2. Transaction Volume and Active Addresses
Daily active addresses and daily transaction volume experienced two rapid growth phases, corresponding to the mainnet launch of Base and the launch of Friend.tech. As of August 31, there were 77,000 daily active transaction addresses and 356,000 daily transactions—both lower than those of other Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and zkSync.
DEX trading volume on Base hit a low on August 3 following the end of the meme coin rally. It then rebounded due to a series of new project launches but began shrinking again after the broader market downturn on August 16.
II. Ecosystem Projects
As of August 27, Base’s official website lists 143 projects/partners. DefiLlama tracks 69 projects, with only 23 having a TVL exceeding $1 million—12 of which are DEXs.
DEX
Leetswap and Rocketswap were initially dominant DEXs on Base but both suffered security incidents.
Currently, Aerodrome leads as the top native DEX with a significantly higher TVL. The DEX recently launched liquidity mining with high APY incentives. Developed jointly by Velodrome, the Base team, and partners, Aerodrome serves as Base’s liquidity layer. The total supply of AERO is 500 million, with 450 million (90%) locked as veAERO. Initial circulating supply of AERO is 10 million, increasing weekly by 3% from week 1 to week 14, then decreasing by 1% per week from week 14 to around week 67. Overall, AERO is a mineable token with rapidly growing circulation in the short term. After Aerodrome’s launch, both Baseswap and Alien Base saw declines in TVL and price.
Lending
The largest lending protocol on Base is Compound, with a TVL of $23.35 million, followed by Moonwell—a native Moonbeam lending protocol—with $19.42 million. Aave went live on Base on August 20 after community voting, with a current TVL of $1.68 million.
Magnate Finance, previously the largest native lending protocol on Base, was linked to the Solfire scam through its contract deployer. The project’s Twitter account has since been deactivated. Other lending protocols like Grannay Finance and UncleSam Protocol have TVLs below $1 million, lacking competitive advantages in brand reputation, security, or liquidity compared to established players like Compound and Aave.
Derivatives
EDEBASE implements a hybrid liquidity mechanism allowing ELP holders to provide liquidity via smart routing. 45% of protocol revenue is distributed to ELP token holders and stakeholders—similar to GMX. Its current TVL is $0.19 million.
Meridian Trade offers interest-free stablecoin borrowing, leveraged trading, and zero-slippage trades. Users can trade whitelisted crypto assets with up to 50x leverage and obtain over-collateralized interest-free ETH loans. Current TVL is $50,000.
Social Platforms
Friend.tech generated significant excitement and capital inflows in mid-August. However, starting August 22, it began experiencing capital outflows and a noticeable drop in trading activity.
Gaming
Parallel is a collectible card game that raised $50 million from Paradigm in 2021, at one point valued as high as $500 million. In late July, its beta test launched, minting NFT trading cards on the Base chain.
Conclusion
Many native projects on Base have been involved in rug pulls. From a price performance perspective, participating at the secondary market level carries significant risk. That said, from an ecosystem development standpoint, high-profile projects like Unibot are still actively joining the Base ecosystem.
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