Base, Coinbase’s Layer-2 Blockchain Network, Now Hosts Approximately 80% of Uniswap’s Monthly Active Traders

Base launched in August 2023 and began rapidly gaining market share among decentralized exchange (DEX) traders in early 2024.

Base, a layer-2 blockchain network from Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), is now hosting around 80% of Uniswap's monthly active traders, according to crypto research firm Token Terminal.

Base, which launched in August 2023, quickly gained market share among decentralized exchange traders in early 2024. It has now largely displaced rival blockchains, including Ethereum mainnet and another Ethereum L2, Arbitrum One, in terms of DEX trading activity, according to Token Terminal.

Previously, Ethereum and Arbitrum, followed by Polygon, dominated DEX trading activity, the data shows. Arbitrum remains the largest layer-2 blockchain with almost $17.2 billion in total value locked, far outpacing Base, which ranks second with just shy of $7.2 billion TVL, according to L2Beat. The L2Beat TVL metric includes native tokens, such as Arbitrum’s ARB, which airdropped to users in 2023.

Coinbase created Base in partnership with another layer-2 Ethereum Virtual Machine, Optimism, using a similar technology stack. However, Base has since differentiated itself — especially among DEX traders — with its strong performance.

As of July 31, Base is processing nearly 42 transactions per second versus Arbitrum One's less than 20 TPS, according to L2Beat.

Base also benefits from its affiliation with Coinbase, which is the most popular centralized exchange in the U.S., with advantages that include “seamless Coinbase integrations, easy fiat onramps, and access to millions of verified users in the Coinbase ecosystem,” according to Base's documentation.

Over $250 million in Uniswap TVL has migrated to Base, according to July 31 data from DefiLlama. Aerodrome Finance, which is native to Base and describes itself as “Base's central liquidity hub,” has seen almost $670 million in TVL, according to DeFiLlama.

Base is still vying for the top spot in decentralized finance among Ethereum layer-2s with Arbitrum and will face further competition from next-generation layer-2s, such as zero-knowledge rollups, in the coming years.

Zk-rollups are designed for faster processing times, nearly instant finality on transactions, and enhanced security. Among Ethereum L2s, Scroll, ZKSync Era and Starknet are leading in the zk-rollup race, with already upwards of $3 billion in TVL, according to L2Beat.