Coinbase‘s Ethereum layer-2 blockchain, Base, has achieved a significant milestone, with its total value locked (TVL) soaring by more than 13.2% in the past week, surpassing $4 billion for the first time. According to L2BEAT data updated on April 7th, Base’s total TVL stands at $4.15 billion, with $1.45 billion represented by canonically bridged value and $2.7 billion in natively minted assets.
Ranking as the third-largest Ethereum layer 2 by TVL, Base outpaces its fourth-place rival, Blast, by approximately $1.4 billion. However, it still trails behind Optimism, the second-place contender, by $3.5 billion, and leader Arbitrum by $14.6 billion.
Despite market fluctuations, Base stands out as the only layer 2 among the top 5 by TVL to record a gain in the past week. Starknet witnessed the largest TVL loss at 10.2%, while Optimism, Arbitrum, and Blast experienced declines of 9.1%, 5.5%, and 2.4%, respectively.
The surge in Base’s TVL coincides with heightened activity, evidenced by its 30-day transaction count exceeding both Ethereum and its primary competitor, Arbitrum. Base recorded 50.34 million transactions over the past month, surpassing Arbitrum’s 40.1 million and Ethereum’s 37.9 million.
Notably, Base’s average daily transactions per second (TPS) surged by 29.7% over the week, reaching an impressive 35.19 TPS. This figure surpasses the combined TPS of rival layer 2s Arbitrum and Ethereum, which reported scores of 16.61 and 13.91, respectively.
Moreover, Base has capitalized on the recent surge in memecoin activity, with its meme token market capitalization surging by over 13% in the last day alone, exceeding $1.6 billion according to CoinGecko.
However, Base’s popularity has also attracted unwanted attention, as evidenced by an 18-fold increase in successful phishing scams on the network from January to March, resulting in a loss of $3.35 million last month.
While Ethereum focuses on enhancing its layer-2 transaction processing capabilities, layer 2 solutions like Base stand to benefit from Ethereum’s challenges. Analysts from VanEck estimate that the network’s scaling ecosystem could reach a market capitalization of $1 trillion by 2030, presenting significant opportunities for platforms like Base to thrive amidst evolving market dynamics.
