Written by: Wenser, Odaily Planet Daily

As the official L2 network under Coinbase, Base has previously claimed multiple times that it would not issue a token. However, times have changed, and Base is now eager to act.

On the evening of September 15, Jesse Pollak, the head of the Base protocol, stated at BaseCamp that "Base is exploring the issuance of a network token." Subsequently, Base's official announcement read: "We are still in the early stages of exploration and currently have no specific information to share regarding timing, design, or governance. We are committed to working with the community and building openly." Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong later confirmed this news, stating, "This could be a powerful tool to accelerate decentralization and expand the growth of creators and developers within the ecosystem."

Odaily Planet Daily will briefly analyze the internal and external motivations, interaction references, and market capitalization scale of Base's token issuance in this article.

Base Goes Back on Its Word, Simply Because Times Have Changed

In August 2023, Base officially launched its mainnet and rapidly developed in a short period. According to Dune data, as of September 13, 2025, the total number of addresses on the Base network reached 245 million; protocol revenue reached $157 million; on September 15, the average number of active addresses on the Base network over seven days exceeded 1.018 million; on June 19 of this year, the number of active addresses in a single day on Base approached 3.6 million, with the total active addresses that week reaching 14.9 million.

Additionally, Base's total value locked (TVL) is also among the top in L2 networks. According to L2 Beat data, as of September 16, the TVL of the Base ecosystem was $15.91 billion (second only to Arbitrum's TVL of $20.11 billion). Among these, the bridging funds amounted to $4.35 billion, native minting funds reached $6.25 billion, and external bridging funds totaled $5.31 billion. The top three tokens by market capitalization in the Base network are:

• Stablecoin USDC with a market cap of $4.048 billion;
• ETH with a market cap of $3.303 billion;
• cbBTC with a market cap of $2.302 billion.

L2 Beat Data

Despite the impressive data, the Base ecosystem is far from a stage where it can rest easy. It is not an exaggeration to say that the current Base ecosystem is facing both internal and external challenges.

Internal Concerns of the Base Ecosystem: Overstated Trading Volume, TVL Outflow

During last year's meme coin craze, on-chain analyst @jpnmemelord revealed that 65%-80% of the trading volume on Uniswap within the Base ecosystem came from rug funds; according to Dune data, the Uniswap V3 liquidity pools in the Base ecosystem are controlled by a small number of addresses, with over 150,000 addresses creating liquidity pools, highly correlated with meme coins. Another Dune panel created by @jpnmemelord shows that as of August 18 this year, 26.1% of contract addresses in the Base ecosystem were identified as scams.

Moreover, data indicates that the outflow of funds from the Base network over the past three quarters reached $4.6 billion, with a total outflow of $5.7 billion for the year. The increase in TVL is accompanied by a significant amount of funds flowing back to the Ethereum mainnet ecosystem.

External Dilemmas of the Base Ecosystem: Resurgence of Exchange Public Chain Wars

As an Ethereum L2 network under Coinbase, Base still faces intense external competition:

On one hand, there is the rapid development of exchange public chains such as Binance's BNB Chain, OKX's X Layer, and Kraken's Ink;

On the other hand, the narrative collapse of Ethereum L2 networks has led to a "growing pains" period for ecosystem development, with many L2 networks entering a "financing - token issuance - ecosystem decline" death spiral, serving as a cautionary tale for Base's development.

Additionally, the Onchain Summer concept that Base has been promoting has struggled to attract more users. SocialFi and creator economy platforms like Friend.tech, Farcaster, and Zora have mostly faded from the mainstream market after experiencing a brief surge.

Macroeconomic Stimulus: U.S. Crypto-Friendly Regulatory Policies

With the U.S. government shifting to a "crypto-friendly government" since Trump took office, the SEC and CFTC opening the U.S. market to overseas crypto exchanges, relaxing derivatives trading restrictions, and the SEC launching "Project Crypto," the previous restrictions on Base issuing a native token are gradually loosening. It can be said that the fierce external competition and favorable regulatory environment require Base to respond to the crisis more proactively and seek new breakthroughs. Consequently, Base has shifted from its previous conservative stance to actively embrace a native crypto development path and is preparing to issue an ecosystem native token.

Furthermore, according to Jesse Pollak, the head of the Base protocol, "Base will launch a new bridge connecting Base and Solana, aimed at allowing users to seamlessly build using SOL, ERC-20s, and SPL tokens between Base and Solana, achieving:

• Depositing and using SOL in any Base application;
• Importing any Solana token into Base applications;
• Users can export the Base tokens they create to the Solana ecosystem."

This also means a comprehensive integration of the Base ecosystem with the Solana ecosystem, becoming another crypto hub aside from the Ethereum ecosystem.

Interaction Reference Guide Before Base Issues Tokens: On-chain Transactions, Onchain Score, Base Name

Currently, the specific timing for Base's token issuance is still uncertain, with estimates suggesting it could be as early as the end of this year or as late as the first half of next year or even longer. Therefore, for users who have not deeply participated in the construction of the Base ecosystem, although the official has not specified a concrete token airdrop plan, there is still certain interaction value. Currently, it may be possible to engage in the following three aspects:

1. Participate in On-chain Transactions and Interactions

Main platform: https://zora.co/

As an on-chain trading platform strongly supported by the Base ecosystem and its official, Zora currently integrates various functions such as token creation, NFT trading, referral commissions, and creator token trading.

2. Onchain Score Query

Reference platform: https://www.onchainscore.xyz/

According to a post by @Crypto_Pranjal, this website was launched by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in August 2024, allowing users to check the "on-chain score" corresponding to their wallet address based on the information on the site, thereby assessing their participation activity in the Base ecosystem.

The main assessment criteria include total trading volume, unique usage days, longest consecutive usage days on Base, swaps, bridging, lending and borrowing, and deployed smart contracts.

3. Base Name (ENS Subdomain)

Registration platform: base.org/names

In addition to the above two methods, as a loyal supporter of the Ethereum ecosystem, Base previously launched ENS-based subdomains xxx.base.eth. Users can register the corresponding domain name to view address-related information and participate in corresponding activities.

Additionally, the DEX Aerodrome and SocialFi application Farcaster within the Base ecosystem are also worth interacting with and using.

Market Capitalization and Future Outlook for Base Tokens

Finally, regarding the potential market scale of the upcoming Base token, the current representative views in the market are as follows:

1 confirmation Founder: If executed properly, BASE is expected to become a top five token by market cap

Nick Tomaino, founder of 1 confirmation (Note: he is also an early member of Coinbase and previously participated in Coinbase's business development), stated that if Base issues its token correctly, it is likely to immediately rank among the top five by market cap.

He suggested avoiding VC participation and internal trading, and instead distributing tokens through transparent airdrops to developers and users, based on actual usage. Tomaino stated that Base is the most successful tokenless blockchain in history, and the airdrop will become a strong driving force for its development.

Jia Yueting: If Base issues a token, it may change the way cryptocurrencies and traditional capital work together

Faraday Future founder Jia Yueting stated that if Base launches a token, it may change the way cryptocurrencies and traditional capital collaborate. With token support, Base could become the first secure bridge connecting publicly traded companies and crypto assets, a strategy that all major banks could emulate. As an asset class, cryptocurrencies could shift from "risk bets" to "core business assets."

In terms of capital flow, if this model proves successful, trillions of dollars in funds will flow into cryptocurrencies, and the entire L2 and blockchain valuation narrative will be rewritten. Regulation may become the final barrier, but this is not only related to fintech but also to Wall Street.

Conclusion: Base Token Issuance, Coinbase Will Be the Biggest Winner

Undoubtedly, with the issuance of the Base token, the ultimate and biggest winner will still be Coinbase behind it.

On one hand, Coinbase can gain more protocol revenue, further enriching its business cash flow; on the other hand, Coinbase can leverage the Base ecosystem to expand more application scenarios, deepening its penetration into mainstream audiences while enhancing its market share, providing a solid foundation for user growth and liquidity growth. Moreover, Coinbase can also create a perfect ecological closed loop with the Base token and Circle's stablecoin USDC, achieving a "deep integration of traditional finance and decentralized finance," providing diversified channels and entry points for traditional financial markets to deeply participate in cryptocurrency and stock tokenization trading.

A "new crypto golden age" belonging to the United States is one that Base does not want to miss.

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