Base

How @base is becoming the go-to chain for memecoins

@base, Coinbase’s Layer-2 blockchain launched in 2023, has quietly become a memecoin magnet. It now hosts over 7 million users and a vibrant meme-token ecosystem valued around $1.47 billion. Daily activity has exploded – peaking at 13 million transactions in a single day by early 2025
– outpacing many older chains. How did a new L2 achieve this? Let’s dive in 🧵👇

Solana is a blockchain built for mass adoption ◎ Fast, composable, green, and globally distributed. 

https://solana.com

Farcaster by @solanafoundation

Fakhou | Builder & Educator 🚀

@base advocate & Global builder
Helping everyone level up on @base

What are memecoins? A brief history

Memecoins are crypto tokens born from internet memes or pop culture – often launched as jokes but sometimes growing into serious market players. 

Dogecoin ($DOGE), created in 2013 as a parody, became the original memecoin, sparking a community and multi-billion market cap. 

Shiba inu ($SHIB) followed in 2020 as an @ethereum-based “DOGE killer,” riding viral hype. 

And in early 2023, Bonk ($BONK) – a @solana airdrop token – surged 2,000% in a week, briefly boosting @solana usage by ~35%. $BONK drove over 4 million transactions in 3 days on @solana. 

Memecoins thrive on virality, community fandom, and “degen” speculation – setting the stage for @base’s emergence.

Base’s launch and early traction

Base was unveiled by Coinbase in Feb 2023 and built using @optimism's  OP Stack. It went live to the public in August 2023 during the “Onchain Summer” campaign, which onboarded over 2 million unique wallets and generated $5 million+ in NFT mints. 

Even before the official mainnet launch, memecoin fever hit Base: in late July 2023, a token called $BALD (a tongue-in-cheek jab at Coinbase’s CEO) rocketed to an ~$85 million market cap within 48 hours – only to crash over 85% when its deployer abruptly pulled $25 million liquidity. This notorious rug pull was @base’s first trial by fire, foreshadowing the wild memecoin culture to come.

The memecoin frenzy of early 2024

After a modest start in late 2023, @base’s memecoin activity exploded in Q1 2024. Daily transactions jumped 3× from ~500k to ~1.5 million in late March, even hitting a then-record 2.38 million in one day. The number of active wallets doubled in weeks. . Total value locked (TVL) on Base surged from ~$450 M to nearly $1 billion during March. 

This frenzy was driven by a new wave of meme tokens on @base – often with silly or nostalgic themes – suddenly skyrocketing in price. For example, the cat-themed $TOSHI, the irreverent PEPE-based “Thank You @basegod” ($TYBG), $NORMIE, and $BRETT (more on these soon) all mooned hundreds of percent within days. Trading volumes for @base memecoins collectively crossed $1 billion in a week.  The activity was so intense that @base raked in $1.8 million in fees in 24 hours at the peak – with network congestion despite low base fees. In short, early 2024 was @base’s “memecoin season,” firmly putting it on the map.

Outshining Solana and other chains

The memecoin boom on @base quickly eclipsed similar activity on other chains. @solana, which had its $Bonk moment, started losing steam – Solana DEX volumes declined as capital rotated into Base’s meme tokens. 

By late 2024, @base was leading all Optimistic rollups in activity, even surpassing long-time L2 leader @arbitrum on some metrics. @base hit 8.8 million daily transactions in Nov 2024, whereas @arbitrum’s peak was ~2.5M and @optimism's ~900k.

 In TVL, @base shot to the #2 spot among @ethereum L2s with around $7 billion locked (only Arbitrum had more). Put simply, @base’s combination of Coinbase’s user funnel and meme mania allowed it to outpace competing chains in user engagement. Many in the crypto community noted that the “once NFT crowd” had shifted to @base memecoins as a new playground. @base became the go-to chain for degens, while @solana's meme trading fervor waned.

Why is Base so attractive for memecoins?

Several factors underlie @base’s rise as a memecoin hub:

Low fees & fast throughput: @base offers high scalability (around 31 TPS capacity) with gas fees often around $0.10 per tx– far cheaper than @ethereum L1 (where fees ~$1+). This makes rapid trading and micro-transactions feasible, a key for viral meme tokens. (At the frenzy peak, fees spiked due to demand, but generally @base is inexpensive.)

@coinbase integration & easy onboarding: @base is directly integrated with Coinbase’s exchange and wallet apps, giving millions of retail users one-click access. Newcomers can jump into @base without managing custom RPCs or bridges – lowering the barrier to entry for casual traders who might ape into a meme coin. This “exchange funnel” is unique to @base and likely brought a flood of first-time on-chain users.

OP Stack reliability & developer tools: Built on the @optimism stack, @base benefited from a proven tech foundation. Developers can easily deploy @ethereum -compatible contracts. @coinbase  and others have provided tooling (e.g. token launchpads, multisenders, liquidity lockers) to support new projects. This lowers friction for launching memecoins and experimental dApps on @base.

Community & degen culture: @base has cultivated a vibrant, risk-tolerant community of meme lovers. From day one (think $BALD), there’s been a “degen” culture – active social channels, insider jokes, and viral marketing. @farcaster (a decentralized social app) even has a dedicated “Degen” channel rewarding users in $DEGEN tokens, blurring social media with meme tokenomics. Engaged users on X (Twitter) and forums relentlessly hype new coins, fueling reflexive interest. In short, @base has the critical mass of meme enthusiasts needed to keep the flywheel spinning.

Meet the top Base memecoins
Several native tokens have come to define Base’s memecoin scene:

BRETT – “The blue mascot of Base.” Launched Feb 2024, $BRETT is inspired by a character from Matt Furie’s Boy’s Club comics (the same universe as Pepe). Brett – a laid-back, video game-loving frog – was embraced as @base’s own meme mascot (“Pepe’s best friend on Pepe”). Backed by an enthusiastic community, BRETT quickly became the largest memecoin on Base with a market cap surpassing $1 billion. It hit a peak price of ~$0.19 in June 2024. The project formed partnerships and leaned into its cultural roots, even selling merchandise. Brett’s rise signifies how Base gave life to an original meme character that now rivals older giants.

DEGEN (Base) – “The decentralized generation token.” $DEGEN launched in Jan 2024 as a fun reward token within Farcaster’s community. Users earned $DEGEN for engaging on a “Degen” social channel – essentially tokenizing social media clout. It quickly transcended its origins, becoming the de facto community coin of Base. Uniquely, DEGEN also serves as gas on a experimental Layer-3 “Degen Chain” and powers DEXes like DegenSwap. With these utility angles, DEGEN grew to a $100M+ market cap at its peak. It reached an ATH of ~$0.047 and remains actively traded. The success of DEGEN shows Base’s ability to fuse meme appeal with real utility, leveraging social community to bootstrap a token economy.

MOCHI – “The fluffiest feline token.” $MOCHI is a cute, cat-themed meme coin launched in late 2023 and named after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s pet cat Mochi. It was one of Base’s earliest native memes (even receiving a Coinbase developer grant). The team’s goal is to create a family-friendly meme brand on Base – complete with MochiArt NFTs, merchandise, and even comics. MOCHI’s community emphasizes positive vibes and onboarding new users to Base. While smaller in cap (~$8 M as of Jan 2025), MOCHI is noteworthy for its Coinbase connection and ambition to become Base’s equivalent of Dogecoin in approachability. It represents the lighter side of the Base meme culture and hints at mainstream crossover appeal.

(Other honorable mentions on Base include $TOSHI – another Armstrong’s cat meme coin; Bamboo ($BAMBOO) – a panda-themed token; Based Shiba ($BSHIB); $MFER, $MAGA VP, and more. The ecosystem is diverse, but $BRETT, $DEGEN, and $MOCHI stand out as emblematic.)