Base's Seven Breakouts
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Base's Seven Breakouts
Seven times breaking into the mainstream, Base has become the blockchain with the most opportunities outside of Solana.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Zhou Zhou, Foresight News
In 2024, two blockchain ecosystems stood out above all others: Solana and Base.
Despite existing for less than a year and a half, Base has broken through seven times to become Ethereum’s strongest L2. During two major events in 2024—the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs and Trump's election as the next U.S. president—Base did not miss any opportunity to expand the reach and scale of the crypto industry.
Since February last year, I have consistently been bullish on Base—from Degen (up to 50x), Clanker (up to 70x), to Virtuals (with multiple interviews with founder Wee Kee). Aside from missing friend.tech, I haven't missed a single key breakout moment on Base, witnessing its journey from inception to becoming the second most active blockchain innovation ecosystem in the crypto world today.
History illuminates the future. Here, I’ve compiled Base’s seven breakthrough moments.
First Breakthrough: friend.tech Rakes in $54 Million
Although friend.tech ultimately failed, it marked Base’s first step onto the crypto stage.
The emergence of friend.tech in August 2023 was Base’s first breakout. It attracted massive participation from industry insiders and prominent KOLs, introducing Base to many for the first time. In its first month alone, the protocol generated over $2 million in revenue and accumulated more than $33 million in net deposits.
From August 2023 to May 2024, friend.tech generated protocol revenue of 17,056.5 ETH (approximately $54.6 million at the time), surpassing the protocol revenues of most L2s, with a total of 909,861 unique addresses using the platform.
However, after May, friend.tech sharply declined. The co-founder Racer hinted on social media that they intended to migrate the protocol off Base, immediately causing the native token FRIEND to plummet. On the day of the announcement, FRIEND dropped to $1.01, down 32.2% within 24 hours. Racer claimed that friend.tech had been marginalized and isolated within the Base community, labeled as “negative speculation.”
This tension led friend.tech to seek alternatives elsewhere. But afterward, the project never recovered. At its peak in August 2023, just two weeks after launch, it had over 100,000 users; by July 2024, daily active users were fewer than 100.
Second Breakthrough: Farcaster User Growth Soars by 200K in One Month, Degen Token Explodes 1000x
While friend.tech failed, another social application on Base—Farcaster—began its rise.
In February 2024, Farcaster went viral, gaining 200,000 users in one month—Base’s second breakout. According to Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero, the platform reached 85,000 daily active users in April.
Farcaster continued steady growth: 350,000 users in May; 500,000 in June; 600,000 in August (with real daily active users estimated between 4,000 and 50,000)... By January 24, 2025, Farcaster had nearly 800,000 total users and generated $2.53 million in protocol revenue. While DAUs fluctuated significantly over time, Farcaster kept accumulating users, waiting for the next big opportunity.
Farcaster achieved two notable breakouts. The first occurred between February and April 2024, when the Degen token surged over 1000x, briefly reaching a FDV close to $1 billion—leaving a strong impression on traders across the ecosystem.
However, by late April, the broader crypto market peaked and crashed, and Degen followed suit with repeated halvings. Farcaster also halted its rapid growth, entering a consolidation phase.
Third Breakthrough: Three $1 Billion Tokens Emerge, Making Base the Biggest New Chain “Dark Horse”
Between March and April 2024, Solana led the entire crypto meme wave. Amid this surge, Base became the largest recipient of overflow capital outside Solana.
During this period, Base saw the emergence of billion-dollar market cap tokens like Aero, Brett, and Degen, successfully capturing capital spilling over from Solana’s meme frenzy. It also surpassed Blast in TVL to become the third-largest Ethereum L2, behind only Arbitrum and Optimism.
In a short six months, Base established itself as not only the second-largest meme hub after Solana but also the third-largest L2 on Ethereum—making it the biggest dark horse in the crypto world.
Fourth Breakthrough: Surpassing Arbitrum, Becoming Ethereum’s Largest L2
In August 2024, Base overtook Arbitrum to become the de facto largest L2 on Ethereum.
According to my analysis, from August 2023 to August 2024, Base generated $70 million in total protocol revenue; Arbitrum earned $60 million, OP $30 million, Scroll $40 million, and ZKSync $45 million.
Moreover, across key metrics—including on-chain revenue, transaction volume, and active addresses—Base significantly outperformed other L2s, cementing its status as Ethereum’s top L2. This marked Base’s fourth breakthrough.
Fifth Breakthrough: Base Launches cbBTC, Attracting $2.4 Billion in Capital Inflows
In September 2024, Base launched cbBTC, backed by Coinbase’s over $60 billion in Bitcoin reserves. Within one week, its TVL reached $170 million, directly competing with WBTC—this was Base’s fifth breakout.
As of January 22, 2025, cbBTC’s market size had grown to $2.4 billion, with 200,000 holders. This number continues to grow rapidly. Currently, WBTC holds a market share of around $13 billion, and cbBTC is quickly closing the gap.
Sixth Breakthrough: Rise of the Clanker Ecosystem, Three $50 Million Meme Coins Emerge
In November 2024, the Clanker ecosystem rose to prominence, with three meme coins—LUM, ANON, and Clanker—each reaching $50 million in market cap. Once again, Base captured significant capital overflow beyond Solana, and an application-driven meme culture began to take shape—marking Base’s sixth breakout.
However, as the AI Agent narrative gained momentum, capital on Base gradually shifted from the Clanker ecosystem to the Virtuals ecosystem. With insufficient liquidity to support two major ecosystems simultaneously, Clanker’s tokens gradually faded.
Seventh Breakthrough: The AI Agent Wave, Base Finally Stands Eye-to-Eye with Solana
The rise of the Virtuals ecosystem brought five AI Agent tokens each surpassing $100 million in market cap. At the same time, Solana also had five AI Agent tokens exceeding $100 million.
In previous cycles, Base had always played second fiddle—surpassing many legacy chains but never matching Solana’s massive capital inflows. But during the AI Agent narrative wave, Base finally stood on equal footing with Solana.
In January 2025, as the Virtuals token briefly hit a $5 billion market cap, Base saw the emergence of five AI Agent tokens each worth over $100 million—including aixbt, which remains above $500 million today. For the first time, Base matched Solana’s dominance—this was Base’s seventh breakout.
Final Thoughts
Base has existed for less than a year and a half, yet it has repeatedly overtaken established chains—first Blast and OP, then Arbitrum, and now even challenging Solana. In the current AI Agent wave, Base has clearly demonstrated the potential to rival Solana.
Although Base still lags behind Solana in overall liquidity, the fact that Virtuals briefly reached a $5 billion market cap shows that Base has once again raised the ceiling for capital liquidity in its flagship projects.
Across these seven breakthroughs, Base effectively captured massive capital inflows following the January 2024 approval of Bitcoin ETFs and the flood of capital after Trump’s presidential election in November 2024. A wave of tokens—including Degen, Aero, Brett, Moonwell, Clanker, Virtual, AIXBT, and Luna—each surpassed $100 million in market cap, making Base the chain with the most opportunities after Solana.
One thing is certain: this won’t be Base’s last breakout. In 2025, we can expect even more breakout products to emerge from Base.
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