Original Title: Creating on Base Before BASE
Original Author: William M. Peaster, Bankless
Original Translation: Ismay, BlockBeats
Six months ago, I wrote that arguing for the value of Base had never been easier. Now, after witnessing the milestone announcement of Base Camp last week and seeing this chain steadily execute across various dimensions, that statement seems somewhat outdated.
With the backing of Coinbase, Base continues to expand the design landscape of L2 to fulfill its overarching mission of "becoming the highway for people on-chain," showcasing its potential as a new form of the internet. With Base Camp announcing the launch of a native Solana cross-chain bridge and network token exploration, now is a great time to reassess this chain and its ecosystem. I also sat down with Base creator Jesse Pollak to delve into the latest developments and future stages.
Base Chain
Since spring, the evolution of Base at the chain level has been remarkable. Since March, the total value locked in DeFi has nearly doubled to $5 billion, with protocols like Morpho and Aave seeing their locked amounts triple.
Looking further, as the largest protocol on-chain, Morpho's Bitcoin collateral lending product has seen usage expand tenfold, with total borrowings exceeding $720 million. The integration with Coinbase is seamless, allowing users to borrow directly against Bitcoin collateral. The depth of integration continues to increase, with Coinbase now allowing users to deposit USDC directly into the Morpho vault to earn yields significantly higher than the traditional 4%—this clever timing coincides with an impending interest rate cut and existing yields set to decline.
As the ecosystem expands, the underlying technology is also rapidly iterating:
Flashblocks officially launched on July 16, reducing block times from 2 seconds to 200 milliseconds. As Jesse mentioned, this has entered the "instant" range, particularly benefiting trading applications like Avantis and Aerodrome.
Phase One Decentralization: In April, Base entered the first phase of decentralization, launching a permissionless fault-proof mechanism and establishing a security council, significantly enhancing the chain's security and reducing trust assumptions. Looking back from today, this step also laid the groundwork for Base Camp's announcement of "exploring native network tokens."
Exploring Network Tokens
Jesse clearly pointed out that the wording of this announcement corresponds to the current phase—they are merely exploring, not yet in the issuance process. However, he provided some examples of how excellent token design can drive ecosystem growth:
The flywheel effect of Zora and Virtuals: the former pairs creator tokens with ZORA, while the latter binds smart agents with VIRTUAL, creating a self-reinforcing cycle;
The latest issuance of SYND: launched through Aerodrome without relying on third-party market makers, instead fully depending on the community to determine incentive mechanisms to cultivate token liquidity.
Mechanisms like these embed tokens into real productive economies, greatly enhancing growth and collaboration effects. If Base issues a token in the future, it will likely have similar goals: further promoting network decentralization while strengthening the alignment of interests between builders and users.
Base > Solana Cross-Chain Bridge
Another major announcement from Base Camp is the development of a native Solana cross-chain bridge. It will allow users to deposit and use SOL in any application on Base, migrate any Solana assets, or transfer Base assets out to Solana.
Jesse also emphasized that this is not just about asset-level interoperability—the cross-chain bridge will fully support cross-chain interactions between the two ecosystems, meaning that transactions on one chain can directly trigger transactions on another chain.
Base App
While the growth of the chain's ecosystem and infrastructure is impressive, the significance of the Base App is even more ambitious: it aims to make the entire on-chain experience more social and user-friendly.
Launched in July, the Base App replaces Coinbase Wallet and is quickly becoming the "heart" of the Base ecosystem. Here, people can chat, trade, post (and earn rewards), discover, or distribute on-chain applications. As of Base Camp, creator earnings have exceeded $500,000, and over 50% of posting users are receiving rewards.
Some may wonder: if it’s so successful, why is there still a waitlist? Jesse explained that this is a deliberate arrangement by the team. The primary goal is to refine the best experience for 100,000 "core Base users," establishing a true community-driven circular economy before gradually scaling up. Meanwhile, the details needed for large-scale user onboarding are still being refined. However, even in its early stages, the Base App has already demonstrated value as a distribution mechanism: it allows developers to launch small applications and enables creators to profit through interaction. The information flow drives distribution, the chat function fosters connections, and small applications provide shared tools—all wrapped in a familiar social interface, offering new users an entry point to on-chain activities and a channel for continuous updates.
Building a "Builder Economy"
In my view, the most distinctive feature of Base is its builder-centric growth philosophy. It discards the lengthy and sluggish governance committees typical of traditional funding projects and instead builds a set of tools and support programs around "rewarding those who are building."
This philosophy is reflected in several initiatives:
Developer plug-and-play tools: Base has created seamless integration solutions for everyday application scenarios. For example, Base Pay allows users to check out quickly with USDC and enjoy 1% cashback on platforms like Shopify; Sign on with Base simplifies the account creation process; the upcoming Flywheel protocol will help developers easily design user reward programs to enhance user loyalty.
Base Build: For developers building small applications on the Base App, this development console provides instant data analytics, helping them grow from day one through real-time data, with opportunities to monetize through "builder rewards."
Base Batches: This is a program for builders worldwide, allowing early talent to compete in different tracks such as AI, stablecoins, and consumer applications, while providing hands-on incubation from 0 to 1, potentially leading to incubator seats and genuine venture-level funding support.
Overall, what stands out about Base is that it has not taken the old path of "governance theatrics," but instead made on-chain building accessible and tangible through a series of tools and programs. For those already building on-chain, Base still offers funding programs, but these are post-facto rewards: the core team at Base identifies impactful projects in their daily work, nominates them in internal Slack channels, and then quickly allocates funding to support them.
Is the Best Time Ahead?
The evolution of Base over the past six months indicates that it has surpassed the limitations of a typical L2.
The technical upgrade of Flashblocks, the maturity of the DeFi ecosystem, and the social infrastructure provided by the Base App together form a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Each part reinforces the others: faster transaction speeds improve the on-chain experience, the cross-chain bridge expands liquidity options, and social features welcome new users through familiar information flow formats while bringing more vitality to existing users.
As Jesse reflected in our conversation, Base's greatest achievement may be its ability to maintain mission focus while filtering out noise. Despite the external world being filled with controversies over creator tokens, speculative hype, and an unending cycle of crypto news, the team has cultivated a strong enough "cultural immunity": each major announcement sparks discussions about growth rather than speculative frenzies.
As the network enters its next phase, this solid foundation will be crucial—it serves not only as a "connecting organization" between different ecosystems but also as a social layer for on-chain activities, and as a testing ground for the crypto world to prioritize serving builders and users over speculators.
As Jesse emphasized, for Base, this is still just "day one." But with the current momentum, this "day one" is nurturing a future far grander than the present.
What Are the Current Options for Airdrop Hunting?
Currently, the official has not confirmed any specific plans, but it is no surprise that the market is already eagerly starting to position itself for the potential arrival of the $BASE token.
Some may choose a "double profit" strategy: using applications on Base that have not yet issued tokens while simultaneously queuing for multiple different airdrop opportunities. However, a more direct path worth noting is to adopt a creator strategy.
"Create, and you will be rewarded." — Base head Jesse Pollak has said this.
This is not only the core philosophy of Base at present but may also be a strategy to enhance your $BASE allocation in the future, as the team is likely to reserve a considerable amount of token distribution for creators on-chain.
So, what should you do next? There are numerous applications on Base, and the choice really depends on your interests. Do what you love, use the platforms you enjoy, and consider the rest as a bonus. For example—
You can create NFTs on Base:
· Rodeo: A great entry-level platform with an Instagram-like interface that allows you to turn your posts into digital collectibles.
· TITLES: An on-chain AI remix application where you can directly generate works using community-trained AI art models and mint them. I have also put a model on there, and it's worth a try.
· Manifold: Suitable for DIY-style NFT releases, especially for those who want to customize their issuance methods.
· thirdweb: Offers pre-built smart contracts, making it a good choice if you want to quickly deploy a customized NFT series.
· vibe.market (currently in testing): A brand new exploration direction that allows you to issue "tearable" digital card packs.
You can also issue tokens on Base:
· Clanker: The most popular ERC-20 token issuance tool on Base, usable via the website or Farcaster commands, with the latest V4 version offering more flexibility.
· Flaunch: My favorite token issuance platform, also on Base. It provides a full suite of features, from fixed-price fair issuance to revenue sharing with token holders.
· fxhash: The first to propose the concept of "art tokens," binding ERC-20 with generative art collections, supporting minting, re-drawing, locking, and evolution, making it ideal for creative programmers.
· retake.tv: Similar to Twitch on-chain, streamers can issue their personal Streamer Coin and integrate it into the community.
· Zora: A popular on-chain social network on Base, somewhat styled like Instagram. Here, you can issue creator tokens and pair them with all tokenized posts.
You can even simply create content on Base:
· Base App: Revamped from Coinbase Wallet, it is essentially a Farcaster client integrated with Zora. You can post directly or tokenize your posts. It is still in the waitlist phase, but invitations are gradually being opened.
· Paragraph: An on-chain publishing platform, very suitable for long-form content creation. The team recently launched "Coins," allowing authors to tokenize their articles to gain reader support. Now you can even bind articles to Zora's creator tokens.
These are just a part of the current gameplay on Base, but they already showcase several straightforward paths to enhance your activity on L2.
If the issuance of $BASE is inevitable, then starting to create here from now on may be the wisest way to prepare.
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