Base's Next Era

Six months ago, I wrote that the case for Base had never been easier to make. Today, after seeing Base Camp's landmark announcements last week and watching the chain methodically execute on every front, that statement feels almost quaint.

Building off its Coinbase backing, Base is continually expanding the design for L2s to achieve its overall mission of being a highway for bringing people onchain and demonstrating its potential as a new way to exist on the internet. With Base Camp's announcements of a native Solana bridge and a network token exploration, it's the perfect time to revisit the chain and its ecosystem — I sat down with Jesse Pollak, Base's creator, for deeper insights into the latest developments and the next phase ahead.  

Base Chain

Base's chain-level evolution since spring has been nothing short of remarkable. Since March, DeFi TVL has nearly doubled to $5B, with protocols like Morpho and Aave tripling their value locked.

Digging in further, Morpho, the chain’s largest protocol, has seen the total usage of its Bitcoin-backed loans product, which is neatly integrated into Coinbase to allow users to borrow against their Bitcoin, 10x in size to over $720M in total borrows. The integration runs deeper now too, with Coinbase allowing users to deposit USDC directly to Morpho vaults for yields much higher than the typical 4%, a cleverly timed launch as rate cuts are set to reduce current yields.

While the ecosystem has ballooned, the technology underneath has seen meaningful upgrades, too.

• Flashblocks: The real game-changer dropped on July 16 when Flashblocks went live, slashing block times from 2 seconds to 200 milliseconds. As Jesse notes, this crosses into "instant" territory — particularly advantageous for trading venues like Avantis and Aerodrome.
• Stage 1 Decentralization: In April, Base progressed to Stage 1 decentralization, launching permissionless fault proofs and implementing a security council, strengthening the chain’s security and reducing its trust assumptions. In retrospect, this set the stage for the network's next evolution, which Base Camp made clear: exploring a native network token.

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Exploring a Network Token

While Jesse made clear that the announcement’s wording directly mirrors the stage of this development — they are exploring, not in the process of launching — he offered some examples of protocols whose token design he sees as fueling the growth of their ecosystems.

• Zora and Virtuals’ flywheels, the former pairing creator coins with ZORA and the latter pairing agents with VIRTUAL, creating self-reinforcing loops.
• SYND’s recent launch via Aerodrome using community-determined incentives rather than third-party market makers to develop the token’s liquidity.

Mechanisms like these, which embed tokens into productive economies, go the distance in achieving growth and coordination goals, similar to those Base will likely aim to have with its own token: further decentralizing the network, aligning builders and users.

Base <> Solana Bridge

The other significant announcement from Base Camp is regarding the in-development, natively-supported bridge to Solana that allows users to deposit and use SOL in any Base app, bring any Solana asset over, or export Base assets back. Jesse clarified that, beyond this, the bridge will also fully support cross-chain actions between the two ecosystems — i.e., a transaction on one chain can trigger a transaction on the other.

The Base App

While the chain’s ecosystem and infrastructure growth impresses, the Base App represents something more ambitious: an attempt to make the entire onchain experience more social and approachable. 

Launched in July to replace Coinbase Wallet, it's quickly becoming the heartbeat of the ecosystem, a place where people can chat, trade, post (to earn), and discover or distribute onchain apps. As of Base Camp, over $500K in creator earnings have been paid out, with more than 50% of users who post earning something. 

One might ask, though, if it’s such a success, why is there still a waitlist? Jesse made clear it's entirely by design: first, nail the experience for the core 100K "Base people" to build a circular economy of true fans, then scale broader from there. It’s also still early days for mass onboarding polish, but as a distribution mechanism for builders launching mini-apps and creators earning from engagement, it's already proving its worth. The feed drives distribution, chat enables connection, and mini-apps provide shared tools, all wrapped in a familiar social interface that serves as a way to get started onchain and stay updated. 

For more on the app's design and experience, check out my colleague Peaster's review here.

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Building the Builder Economy

For me, Base's most distinctive characteristic is perhaps its builder-first growth ethos, ditching the sluggish governance committees of traditional grants for a set of tools and support programs constructed around rewarding those already building.

This philosophy manifests through multiple initiatives:

• Plug-and-Play Tools for Developers: Base has built out seamless integrations for everyday app features — Base Pay enables express USDC checkout with perks like 1% cashback via Shopify; Sign on with Base streamlines account creation; and the upcoming Flywheel protocol simplifies the creation of reward programs to developer user loyalty.
• Base Build: Further, for those building mini-apps for the Base App, this development dashboard provides day-one user analytics to grow with real-time data, as well as potentially monetize by winning builder rewards.
• Base Batches: A global builder program, Batches allows pre-accelerator talent to compete across tracks like AI, stablecoins, and consumer apps, while also offering handholding from zero-to-one ideation, and culminating in potential incubator spots and real, venture-level funding support.

Overall, a true standout quality of Base is how it's developed its builder support, not through bloated governance theater, but by developing a series of tools and programs which make building onchain accessible and within reach to all. For those already building on the chain, you should know that there are still grants programs, though these happen retroactively via Base's core team spotting impact in the wild, nominating them in a dedicated internal Slack channel, and then sending out capital fast.

Best Days Ahead?

Base's evolution over the past six months reveals a chain that's moved beyond typical L2 constraints. 

The combination of technical upgrades like Flashblocks, the ecosystem maturity seen in DeFi, and social infrastructure provided by the Base App creates something larger than the sum of its parts. Each piece reinforces the others: faster transactions enable a better experience onchain, cross-chain bridges will expand liquidity options, and social features serve this up in an approachable and familiar feed to welcome newcomers and add dynamism for those already here.

As Jesse reflected during our conversation, Base's biggest achievement might be its ability to block noise while maintaining mission-locked building. Despite creator coin controversies, token speculation, and the constant crypto news cycle, the team has built cultural antibodies strong enough that major announcements spark growth discussions rather than speculative frenzies.

As the network prepares for its next stage, this base will prove critical to ensuring its success as the connective tissue between ecosystems, the social layer for onchain activity, and the proving ground for what crypto can become when it prioritizes builders and users over speculators.

It’s still day one for the chain, as Jesse clarifies. But with momentum like this, day one looks to be building towards something much bigger.