Coinbase’s new layer-2 blockchain, Base, has attracted some $68 million in Ether (ETH), over $200 million in trading volumes, and more transactions than popular networks such as Arbitrum over the weekend, despite the network not even being officially live yet. Bridges like Base are blockchain-based tools that allow for the transfer of tokens between two or more networks. Base, built by crypto exchange Coinbase on OP Stack, went live for developers earlier in July so they could test applications and blockchain-based products before a planned launch later this year.
The surge in activity was largely due to meme coin BALD’s massive surge, which jumped about 4,000,000% from issuance to its peak price and saw more than $100 million traded in 24 hours. News of the surge went viral in crypto circles, attracting scores of traders to bridge funds to the network on the hunt for easy fortunes. “Each investor has their own risk appetite, and these swings in volatility do offer excellent opportunities to lock in profits as well,” said Jeff Mei, Chief Operating Officer of crypto exchange BTSE. “Clearly, meme coin culture is here to stay, as retail traders retain their influence on the crypto landscape, despite recent growing interest in crypto among TradFi.”
However, Web3 analyst at on-chain analytics tool CryptoQuant, Mikolaj Zakrzowski, was less upbeat about Base’s prospects. “Most importantly, one address single-handedly bridged over $17 million worth of Ether. An address ranked second bridged merely $2 million worth of Ether,” Zakrzowski said. “It appears that the rise of Base blockchain is not supported by fundamentals.”