Morning Minute | Base Reaches 1M Active Users As Activity Picks Up

TylerD's Market Summary

📈 Base SZN Is Now

Many in the crypto trenches have wondered - when will it be Base SZN?

There were pockets of time this year when Base NFTs and its memecoins went on solid runs, though those gains have been given back.

And have since those 2 asset classes have been pretty quiet on Base.

But the reality is - it's been Base SZN all summer, just in different sectors.

What Happened?

On Monday, Base daily active users passed 1M for the first time in the L2's history.

Coincidentally, this came after a slew of headlines for protocols and teams building on Base:

• Centrifuge launched a new lending market on Base allowing for the collateralization and borrowing of Treasury Bills
• Aave became the first lending protocol to pass $100M TVL on Base
• Doodles moved their whole operation from Flow to Base, including their new Doodles TV
• Atari decided to revive its classic "Breakout" Game on Base

Base momentum is real.

How Does Base Stack Up?

Looking at a few key metrics (from Defillama), this is where Base stands amongst other chains:

• TVL: $1.59B (2nd in L2s behind Arbitrum, 6th overall)
• Daily Active Users: 911,180 (1st in L2s, 4th overall)
• Stables: $3.27B (2nd in L2s behind Arbitrum, 6th overall)
• Daily Volume: $501M (2nd in L2s behind Arbitrum, 5th overall)

So Base is in a tight race with Arbitrum to become the #1 L2, and it's already competitive with all L1 blockchains in several key metrics.

It turns out Onchain Summer has been real, even if we didn't see it.

Why Does It Matter

Base has a big advantage over other L2s and competitors in its tie-ins to Coinbase.

They have one of the easier onboarding paths of any blockchain, L1 or L2 for that reason.

And that's reason for protocols to launch and build on Base.

Now DeFi on Base is starting to take off (Aave passing $100M, Centrifuge launch) along with daily active users.

This momentum is likely to drive more protocols to want to build on Base - go fish where the fish are.

They're clearly set up for success and will continue to be a major chain to watch, perhaps bringing up all of the Superchain with them.

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• ETH led NFT trading volume with $4.7M on the day; Solana was next with $2.8M, and then BTC with $1.8M
• ETH NFT leaders were red again on the day; Pudgy -4% at 10.5 ETH, BAYC -1% at 13.8 ETH, Azuki +1% at 4.82, Milady -1% at 3.8
• Creature World (+70%) and Loot (+55%) were other notable top movers
• Several nice mid-tier CryptoPunks sold in the 38-46 ETH range on Monday, though the floor fell 3% to 28.5 ETH
• BTC NFT leaders were mostly red; NodeMonkes -10% at 0.137 BTC, Puppets -8% at 0.094 BTC, OMB even at 0.172, Quantum Cats -3% at 0.28; Pizza Ninjas outperform +6% to 0.139 BTC
• The Runes leaders were very red; DOG -14% at $309M mc, RSIC -7% at $78M mc, PUPS -11% to $45M
• Solana NFTs were mixed; Mad Lads even at 55 SOL, SMB Gen 2 +3% at 28, DeGods -5% at 31, Bodoggos +5% at 4.22

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the day:

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors dipped on Monday after the weekend rally even after another $202M in BTC ETF inflows; BTC -2% at $62,450; ETH -4% at $2,640, SOL -4.5% at $155
• Memecoin majors were more red with DOGE -4%, PEPE -8%, WIF -11%, BONK -7%, MOG -10%
• TON fell another 8% after a laundry list of 12 charges against CEO Pavel Durov were published 
• This year's Bitcoin rally minted 84,000 new crypto millionaires, bringing the overall total to 172,300 according to CNBC data
• The SEC settled charges against crypto trading and lending platform Abra for alleged sales of unregistered securities
• Coinbase has deployed a new AI solution to help its platform scale and prevent crashes during traffic surges
• EigenLayer introduced "Permissionless Token Support" allowing any ERC-20 to be added as a restakable asset

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $r/snoofi (+43%, $12M market cap, SOL)
• $WAI (+38%, $11M market cap, ETH)
• $APES (+35%, $13.5M market cap, SOL)
• $KEROSENE (+14%, $20M market cap, ETH)
• $SC (+8%, $15M market cap, SOL)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Creature World (70%, 0.11 ETH Floor)
• Velocity Pass 2.0 (50%, 0.12 ETH)
• Realms of Ether (44%, 0.65 ETH)
• Radbro (37%, 0.1 ETH)
• Chameleon Travel Club (29%, 2.77 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming Mints and Events

Today is a busier day of mints and events.

Arcade is launching its Paradice mint as a new gamblefi project with prizes.

There are multiple BTC mints including EZ Mining, Goodfellas and more. And artist Jessica Yatrofsky returns with her "Buried In Your Eyeline" drop.

See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor. 

• EZ Mining - Fractal Mining Pass (10:00 a.m. ET)
• Goodfellas (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Jessica Yatrofsky - Buried In Your Eyeline (12:00 p.m. ET)
• Arcade - Paradice (12:00 p.m. ET)
• Pathfinders (1:00 p.m. ET)

Enjoy this write-up and/or want to sponsor the Morning Minute? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email to tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.