With its recent increase in TVL (Total Value Locked), Base has established itself as the second most valuable L2 on Ethereum.
Base is experiencing meteoric growth. Ethereum’s Layer 2 network has reached a significant milestone in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, surpassing $2.000 billion in total value locked (TVL).
TVL has become a key metric for determining the interest that crypto market users and investors have in a particular protocol. This metric reflects the total value that is deposited in a protocol’s smart contracts, so its growth on the Base network is indicative of the crypto community’s growing popularity and confidence in the project.
The 2nd most valued Layer 2 in the Ethereum ecosystem
This growth, which translates to an impressive 370% increase since the beginning of the year, positions Base as the second-largest optimistic rollup solution in the Ethereum ecosystem, behind only Arbitrum.
According to data from DeFiLlama, the Base TVL currently stands at $ 2.127 million dollars, which represents a notable jump from the approximately $430 million the network had in TVL at the beginning of 2024.
Source: DeFi Llama
The growth of Base TVL not only reflects the increase in the amount of funds locked in decentralized blockchain protocols, but also the growing user confidence in this Layer 2.
Since its launch in August 2023, Base has proven to be a viable alternative for users looking for a more efficient and less costly transaction experience, compared to the Ethereum mainnet. This accessibility has allowed Base to attract a wide range of users and projects to its digital ecosystem, establishing itself as a key player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
Aerodrome and Uniswap boost Base TVL
Onchain data shows that Base’s TVL growth has been notably driven by Aerodrome and Uniswap, with these being the top two decentralized protocols by TVL within the network.
Decentralized exchange Aerodrome has emerged as a key player in the DeFi ecosystem, offering users a robust platform to trade and provide liquidity in a low-fee environment. Currently, Aerodrome raises more than $1.000 billion into deposits in their smart contracts. This ability of Aerodrome to attract capital has played a crucial role in the rapid accumulation and growth of Base’s TVL.
In addition to Aerodrome, Uniswap has also contributed significantly to the growth of Base, with approximately $220 million in deposits. The combination of these two protocols has allowed Base to benefit from increased user activity, resulting in an increase in daily transactions and the number of active addresses on the blockchain network.
Source: DeFi Llama
On the other hand, while the Arbitrum network continues to lead the Ethereum ecosystem among optimistic rollups, in terms of TVL, Base has demonstrated superior performance in user activity metrics. This suggests that while Arbitrum may have a higher volume of locked funds, Base is actively capturing market share that could result in sustained growth in the long term.
The DeFi ecosystem as a whole is also experiencing a resurgence, which has been driven by renewed interest among users and investors in cryptocurrencies and blockchain scalability solutions.
What is the Base network?
Base is an optimistic rollup that was designed as a solution to improve the scalability of the Ethereum blockchain. Thanks to its architecture, Base allows users to make faster and lower-fee transactions, without sacrificing network security. This is because Base can process transactions off the Ethereum main chain, publishing only a summary of these transactions periodically on the mainnet, which reduces congestion and improves the efficiency and costs of the blockchain network.
Base’s optimistic rollup nature also means that transactions are considered valid unless proven otherwise, allowing for faster processing. This has led to Base becoming a popular choice among users looking to take advantage of blockchain technology without the high gas fees often associated with using the Ethereum mainnet.
