This article will discuss the Base ecosystem with regards to onchain apps, art, and other activities. Base is a Layer 2 by Coinbase on the Ethereum blockchain that’s powered by the OP Stack from Optimism. Launched in 2023, Base has achieved tremendous growth; @jessepollak (on X) is the very first contributor to Base and leads their team. Jesse’s undoubtedly one of the best people in the crypto space as he’s consistently on the X and Warpcast timelines engaging with community members and shows what it means to be “based” through leading by example. According to a tweet from Jesse,
to be based is to:
do the right thing, even if it’s hard
put the team over the individual
work hard
push boundaries with creativity
stay optimistic
These are great values for Base community members to adhere by, and show the level of leadership at the company. The team is full of incredible talent, and that starts at the top with Jesse. Base is an L2 that enables creators to thrive, both in the decentralized applications space and the collectible onchain art space. Big social-fi applications such as @friendtech (on X) and @Drakulaapp (on X) call Base home, and there is a very big community of Base supporters on Warpcast. Many artists have minted their work on Base, from PFP collectible NFTs to 1/1 individual artworks to open editions on Zora. I’ve personally minted both a PFP collectible NFT collection and several artworks as open editions through Zora on Base. This very article you’re currently reading is on Base, made possible by @paragraph_xyz (on X). Many other talented artists such as @basedeneo (on X) and @slander_eth (on X) have launched art collections on Base that minted out and proved that success is attainable for creators during what’s generally been a bear market for the NFT space.
The team at Base is regularly innovating and leaves no stone unturned when it comes to improving their overall ecosystem. On August 21st, Base Name Service (BNS) was launched and over 200,000 names were claimed in just this one week; I was fortunate enough to buy cascade.base.eth. What’s interesting about BNS is that Jesse plans for the service to enable multiple addresses that link to one user; he recently stated on X, “we’re exploring the space of “multi-address @ensdomains” with basenames – e.g. linking multiple addresses, so you can be your whole self onchain.” This makes a lot of sense and it’s great to see strategies laid out for new ideas that were just launched last week.
Base is very supportive of its community, as financial grants are regularly given out to exemplary builders and developers who create positive momentum for the ecosystem. One of Base’s defining traits is the amount of support they show for developers and creators building new products in their ecosystem. Furthermore, “Onchain Summer” was an important initiative at Base both this summer and last summer, and aims to put a spotlight on emerging builders creating new products that fill real needs users have in the space. There’s also a continuously growing memecoin ecosystem on Base where various teams continue to create content around these coins in an effort to stay engaged with the broader community. The native currency on Base is ETH, and the L2 is an overall improvement with regards to the central issue Ethereum L1 faces in high gas fees; gas on Base is often lower than fifty cents per transaction, depending on what dapp you’re interacting with.
There’s an activity for everyone on Base and the community behind the L2 is certainly among the most innovative and welcoming throughout all of crypto. How can you get involved on Base? The best way to get involved is to network with based individuals on both X and Warpcast, two platforms where the Base community is incredibly active. If you’re a programmer, Base has a large developer community that will welcome you with open arms. If you’re an artist, there’s a large community of creatives ready for you to network with and grow your own brand over time. Base is an incredible ecosystem and I’m proud to say I have a solid portfolio of experience on the L2. Thank you for reading this article and be sure to subscribe to Catch up with Cascade for the latest and greatest in crypto.
