The next era of Base

Author: David Christopher Source: Bankless Translation: Shan Ouba, Jinse Finance

Six months ago, I wrote that the reasons to support Base had never been so simple. And today, after witnessing last week's milestone announcement of Base Camp and watching this chain execute in an orderly manner in every aspect, my previous statement now seems a bit outdated.

With the support of Coinbase, Base continues to expand the design of its Layer 2 networks (L2s) to fulfill its overall mission: to become a highway that brings people onto the chain and showcases its potential as a new way of existing on the internet. With the announcement of Base Camp launching its native Solana bridging and network token exploration, now is an excellent time to revisit this chain and its ecosystem. I had an in-depth conversation with Base's founder Jesse Pollak to learn about the latest developments and the new phase ahead.

Base Chain

Since this spring, the evolution of Base at the chain level has been nothing short of amazing. Since March, its DeFi TVL has nearly doubled, reaching 5 billion USD, with the value locked in protocols like Morpho and Aave growing twofold.

In-depth digging shows that as the largest protocol on the chain, Morpho's Bitcoin-backed loan product has seen a 10-fold increase in total usage, with total borrowings exceeding $720 million. This product is closely integrated with Coinbase, allowing users to borrow against their Bitcoin as collateral. Now, this integration has deepened, as Coinbase allows users to directly deposit USDC into Morpho's treasury to earn yields significantly higher than the usual 4%, which is a clever timing for the release, as interest rate cuts will lead to a decrease in current yields.

(Source: @ryanyyi | Dune)

While the ecosystem is thriving, its underlying technology has also undergone significant upgrades.

• Flashblocks: The real game changer launched on July 16th, reducing block time from 2 seconds to a significant 200 milliseconds. As Jesse mentioned, this has entered the “instant” realm, which is particularly beneficial for trading platforms like Avantis and Aerodrome.
• Phase One Decentralization: In April of this year, Base moved towards Phase One Decentralization, launching permissionless fault proof and implementing a security council, thereby enhancing the security of the chain and reducing its trust assumptions. In retrospect, this laid the foundation for the next evolution of the network, and Base Camp made it clear: Exploring Native Network Tokens.

Exploring Network Tokens

Although Jesse made it clear that the wording in the announcement directly reflects the development stage—they are in the exploration phase, not in the launch process—he still cited examples of protocols he believes can drive ecosystem growth in their token design.

• Zora and Virtuals' flywheel effect: the former pairs creator tokens with ZORA, while the latter pairs agents with VIRTUAL, creating a self-reinforcing cycle.
• SYND recently developed token liquidity through the release of Aerodrome, utilizing community-determined incentives instead of third-party market makers.

Mechanisms like these that embed tokens into the productive economy have great potential in achieving growth and coordinating objectives, which is similar to the goals that Base may wish to achieve through its tokens: further decentralizing the network and aligning builders and users.

Base <> Solana Bridging

Another important announcement from Base Camp is regarding the development of a native Solana bridge, which will allow users to deposit and use SOL in any Base application, bring any Solana assets over, or export Base assets back. Jesse clarified that, in addition, this bridge will fully support cross-chain operations between the two ecosystems—that is, a transaction on one chain can trigger a transaction on another chain.

Base App

Despite the impressive growth of the ecosystem and infrastructure of the chain, Base App represents a more ambitious attempt: aimed at making the entire on-chain experience more social and approachable.

Launched in July, it replaced the Coinbase wallet and quickly became the core of the ecosystem, where people can chat, trade, post (and earn rewards), and discover or distribute on-chain applications. As of Base Camp, over $500,000 in income has been paid to creators, with more than 50% of posting users earning rewards.

However, some may ask, if it is so successful, why is there still a waiting list? Jesse clearly stated that this is a deliberate design: first, to provide an exceptional experience for the core 100,000 “Base people” to establish a circular economy made up of loyal fans, and then to expand more broadly on this foundation. For optimizing large-scale onboarding, it is still in the early stages, but as builders release mini-apps and creators earn rewards through participation, it has proven its value. Information flow drives distribution, chat functions foster connections, and mini-apps provide sharing tools, all wrapped in a familiar social interface as a way for users to embark on their on-chain journey and stay updated.

Building the Builder Economy

For me, the most unique feature of Base may be its builder-first growth philosophy, which abandons the slow governance committees of traditional grants and instead builds a set of tools and support programs around rewarding those who are already building.

This concept is embodied through multiple initiatives:

• Plug-and-Play Developer Tools: Base has built seamless integration for everyday application features—Base Pay supports quick USDC checkout through Shopify and offers benefits like 1% cashback; “Login with Base” simplifies the account creation process; and the upcoming Flywheel protocol simplifies the creation of reward programs to foster user loyalty.
• Base Build: Additionally, for those building mini-apps for the Base App, this developer dashboard provides user analytics ready for use from day one, leveraging real-time data for growth and enabling potential profits through winning builder rewards.
• Base Batches: As a global builder program, Batches allows talents in the pre-accelerator stage to compete in tracks such as AI, stablecoins, and consumer applications, while also providing guidance from zero to one in concept development, ultimately leading to potential incubator positions and genuine, venture capital-level funding support.

Overall, a truly outstanding feature of Base is how it develops its builder support, not through cumbersome governance “showmanship”, but by creating a series of tools and programs that make on-chain building accessible and approachable. For those who are already building on-chain, you should know that there are still grant programs, although these programs are implemented by the Base core team identifying impactful projects in reality, nominating them in a dedicated internal Slack channel, and then quickly sending funds to realize them.

Is the best era about to come?

Base's evolution over the past six months reveals a chain that has already surpassed the typical L2 limitations.

Technological upgrades such as Flashblocks, the maturity of ecosystems seen in DeFi, and the social infrastructure provided by Base App combine to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Each part strengthens the others: faster transactions offer a better on-chain experience, cross-chain bridges expand liquidity options, and social features present all of this in a friendly, familiar information flow to welcome new users and invigorate existing ones.

As Jesse reflected during our conversation, the greatest achievement of Base may lie in its ability to maintain mission-driven development while shutting out the noise. Despite controversies over creator tokens, token speculation, and the ever-evolving cycle of crypto news, the team has built a strong enough cultural immunity that major announcements only spark discussions about growth rather than speculative frenzy.

As the network prepares for the next phase, this “foundation” will prove crucial in ensuring it serves as a connecting organization between ecosystems, a social layer for on-chain activities, and a successful testing ground for what cryptocurrency can become when prioritizing builders and users over speculators.

As Jesse has stated, it is still “Day One” for this chain. But with this kind of momentum, “Day One” seems to be leading to a grander future.