Original Title: "Base App Fully Opened, How is the Experience?"
Original Author: KarenZ, Foresight News
On December 18, the Base App launched by Coinbase officially announced the end of its Beta testing phase and is now fully open to users in over 140 countries and regions worldwide. This is a key step for Coinbase in building an on-chain ecological entry and realizing the vision of popularizing Web3.
Evolving from the early pure tool "Coinbase Wallet" to the current "Base App," this product is attempting to define a new form of on-chain "super app" that deeply integrates social, trading, payment, and complex on-chain interactions.
As Base leader Jesse Pollak stated, "Making on-chain interactions as simple as online ones."
The All-in-One Landscape of Base App
The Base App is no longer limited to traditional asset management but is a comprehensive platform that integrates social, payment, and chat functionalities.
The Base App has four core features:
· Closed Loop of Social and Creator Economy: Integrates Farcaster and Zora protocols. Every post made by users can be converted into tradable digital assets through Zora, achieving true "posting equals monetization." At the same time, selected trading dynamics are directly integrated into social interactions, making "on-chain discovery" intuitive and social.
· On-chain Functions and Payment Experience: Supports buying and selling cryptocurrencies, exploring built-in Mini apps (such as trading platforms, prediction markets, lending platforms, games, and content tipping platforms), and also supports free and instant USDC transfers using NFC, allowing users to earn yields by holding USDC.
· Ecologically Interconnected Mini Apps: Similar to WeChat Mini Programs, the Base App includes mini applications covering DeFi, prediction markets, games, and more. Smart Wallet and Fast Payment: Users automatically receive a Base account (supporting multi-chain smart wallet identity) and Base Pay (a fast payment method based on USDC) upon registration.
· Private Communication and AI Collaboration: The chat function is based on the XMTP encryption protocol, ensuring privacy and security. Users can not only send and receive USDC directly in conversations or form communities of up to 250 people but can also call on AI Agents to assist in executing complex combination trades or portfolio management.
How is the Experience? What Kind of App is This?
In practice, the UI design of the Base App is extremely minimalist, and the interactions are relatively smooth.
"Seamless" Onboarding: Say Goodbye to Mnemonic Anxiety
For newcomers, the most convenient aspect is that there is no need for a mnemonic phrase or to back up 12 words. Private key management is entirely handled by Passkeys, allowing users to create an on-chain account in seconds. This experience is almost indistinguishable from registering a regular Web2 social account, significantly lowering the entry barrier for non-crypto users.
Seamless Integration of Social and Finance
In the main feed of the trading section, a real-time market button appears below content posts that generate revenue for creators, allowing one-click navigation to the trading page.
The platform also highlights large transactions or concentrated buying behaviors, making it easier for users to follow trades. Additionally, there is a convenient "hidden operation"—double-tapping on a post or creator coin of interest allows for quick purchases at a preset amount.
The discussion section focuses on pure content information streams that have not yet generated revenue.
According to official descriptions, the feed algorithm will personalize recommendations based on user interactions (likes, comments, follows), interest test results, as well as content timeliness, relevance, and diversity. Users can also interact with links or Mini Apps shared by others directly in the feed.
On-chain Identity Centered on "People"
When you open the Base App, you no longer see a cold string of 0x… codes, but rather Basenames. The Base App is deeply integrated with the on-chain identity system, making transfers as simple as sending a red envelope to a WeChat friend. Names are no longer just symbols but serve as a "digital ID" that traverses the entire ecosystem.
Trading: Gas Sponsorship
To achieve an ultimate experience, the Base App employs a "Gas Sponsorship" model in many scenarios, with network fees covered by the official. However, it is important to note that this convenience is not entirely free: when exchanging tokens (Swap) or performing cross-chain operations within the app, a fee of about 1% (on Base) still applies.
Rich Mini Apps
The "Search" section of the Base App encompasses all integrated Mini Apps, covering applications in trading, gaming, creator platforms, DeFi platforms, prediction markets, music, and more. The Mini Apps homepage currently features selected derivatives protocol Avantis, Web3 football fantasy game Football.Fun, DeFi protocol Gauntlet, lending protocol Morpho, and Moonwell.
USDC Holding Yields Automatically Distributed Weekly
The wallet page of the Base App supports one-click activation of USDC yields, with the current APY at approximately 3.35% (adjusted by Coinbase), with rewards accumulated daily and distributed weekly (U.S. users need to link their Coinbase accounts).
What Challenges Exist?
As an emerging platform, the Base App still faces some obvious pain points or challenges in actual use:
· "Island Effect" of Social Features: For a product positioned as an "on-chain super app," user scale is its lifeline. If the user base of the Base App is insufficient, it will directly lead to its core functions falling into a "negative cycle." If there are few active users, content updates in the information stream will slow down, and retention rates will gradually decline.
· Quality of Information Stream Needs Optimization: The current social feed algorithm is not transparent, and the content pool is filled with speculative content and useless information, with a relative lack of quality deep interactions.
· "Liquidity Trap" of On-chain Transactions: Its social trading section relies on showcasing "concentrated purchases by multiple people" to guide following trades. If the user base is too small, this trend detection loses statistical significance, and users may only see random operations by a few individuals.
· Boundaries of Security Defense: Convenience also brings risks. Phishing links disguised under beautiful social dynamics still exist, and for novice users accustomed to Web2 security protections, misoperations may lead to authorization leaks, which remains a severe challenge in the on-chain world.
Of course, for the current stage of the Base App, its biggest challenge is not the lack of powerful features but how to efficiently convert Coinbase's hundreds of millions of users and stabilize retention rates.
Conclusion
The full opening of the Base App marks a shift in the focus of the Base ecosystem from "building roads and bridges" to "stock competition" and "user onboarding."
By integrating wallets, trading, social, creator economy, payments, mini-program ecology, and yields into one, it has built a powerful on-chain traffic entry. For developers, the Mini Apps framework provides a shortcut to directly reach Coinbase's vast user base.
Although there is still a long way to go in content governance and user attraction, the Base App undoubtedly provides a clear template: the future of Web3 should not be an isolated wallet but an on-chain society that is warm, interactive, and profitable.
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