Memecoin Traders Flock To Base

Activity on Base, the Layer 2 network being developed by Coinbase, is exploding, with users bridging nearly $60M worth of Ether to the blockchain on July 30.

Many of the assets bridged over to Base have been deposited onto LeetSwap, an upstart decentralized exchange that attracted more than $43M in total value locked (TVL) on the same day. However, trading on the DEX has been paused after some suspicious transactions were observed, once again highlighting the risks of interacting with new and untested protocols.

Base is already the 10th-largest Layer 2 by TVL after just one day of inflows. According to L2beat, Base is now the third-most active Layer 2 network, processing 7.58 transactions per second (TPS). zkSync Era is the top L2 with 11.55 TPS, surpassing Ethereum mainnet’s 11.36 TPS.

The surge in activity shows degens’ ravenous appetite for DeFi on Base but comes despite the fact Base hasn’t formally announced its public mainnet launch. Base opened its doors to builders on July 12, allowing developers to begin deploying and tinkering with their code on the network prior to the public launch.

Memecoin Degens Converge On LeetSwap

LeetSwap hosted overnight sensations within the memecoin sector, with 45 tokens traded on the platform posting daily percentage gains of at least four figures on July 30, according to Dexscreener. However, 20 of those tokens have less than $1 worth of liquidity, highlighting the risks of rug-pulls.

LeetSwap hosted 601,181 transactions worth nearly $225M on its first day.
The most popular token on LeetSwap was BALD, which drove $86.4M in volume from more than 16,400 trades in 24 hours and briefly tagged a fully-diluted valuation of around $100M. However, BALD has since crashed by more than 90% after the token’s creator removed over $20M of liquidity, profiting by roughly $5M.

Layer 2s Launch Multichain Ecosystem Infrastructure

Competition in the Layer 2 sector is heating up, with leading networks Optimism, Polygon, and zkSync laying the groundwork for multichain ecosystems of interconnected L2s.

Optimism led the charge on June 7 with its Bedrock upgrade and open-source release of OP Stack — a modular tech stack allowing developers to launch customized Layer 2s. Optimism hopes to establish a unified “superchain” ecosystem of OP Stack-based networks, including Base.

Polygon responded one week later with its 2.0 roadmap, outlining plans to merge its flagship scaling solutions into an interoperable ecosystem. Polygon has since announced plans for a new token as part of the roadmap.

zkSync joined the fray with the launch of its open-source ZK Stack. zkSync said its focus has moved from developing a single scaling solution in favor of fostering a “hyperchain” ecosystem of ZK Stack-based networks.