Base in 2025: how the network turned distribution channels into a competitive advantage and what to expect in 2026

During a period when most Ethereum L2 solutions are trying to find their place in the market, Base has already gone beyond just making a statement — it has rewritten the rules of the game. Analysis shows that over the past year, the network has radically changed its position within the ecosystem, opening up new horizons for development.

Revenue Revolution: How the Network Surpassed Competitors

Base’s revenue dynamics demonstrate exponential growth. In December 2023, the network generated only $2.5 million in monthly income, accounting for a mere 5% of the total L2 pool. A year later, the situation changed dramatically.

By the end of 2024, Base already held 63% of all L2 chain revenues, generating $14.7 million out of a total of $23.5 million. This growth rate continued into 2025: during this period, the network accumulated $75.4 million, representing 62% of the $120.7 million total L2 revenue pool.

These figures eloquently confirm that Base’s dominance is not a coincidence but a natural result of its strategic positioning.

DeFi TVL: A New Hierarchy in the L2 Market

Base’s leadership extends to the decentralized finance segment. In January 2025, the network officially overtook Arbitrum One, taking first place in locked assets volume in DeFi.

The current DeFi TVL on Base stands at $4.63 billion, accounting for 46% of the entire L2 market. Notably, this figure has been steadily increasing throughout the year — from 33% at the start to the current levels.

Distribution Advantage: How Coinbase Is Becoming a Game-Changer

The roots of Base’s success lie in a competitive advantage that no other L2 possesses. According to the latest Coinbase (Q3 10-Q report), the platform serves 9.3 million active traders monthly.

This means that Base has direct access to the largest centralized exchange in the US and its vast user base already within the Coinbase ecosystem. Unlike competitors who must invest millions in incentive programs to attract liquidity, Base benefits from an organic flow of activity as a byproduct of using the parent company’s products.

Ecosystem of Applications: Diversification as a Foundation

Base’s success in the L2 market is based not on a single project but on a portfolio of profitable solutions. Over the past year, applications within the Base ecosystem have accumulated $369.9 million in revenue streams.

While Aerodrome — the leading DEX in the network — holds a prominent position with $160.5 million (43% of the ecosystem revenue), it is far from the only successful project. The platform for deploying AI agents, Virtuals, has already generated $43.2 million (12% of the ecosystem revenue), and the recently launched sports prediction platform Football.Fun has already generated $4.7 million.

This multi-vector development indicates the formation of a resilient ecosystem that is not dependent on fluctuations in demand for a single use case.

Morpho on Base: A Case of Distribution Strategy

Coinbase’s partnership with Morpho crystallizes the anticipated advantage of Base in product dissemination. Coinbase platform users can borrow in USDC with crypto collateral directly within the exchange interface.

Although the integration is visible on Coinbase’s frontend, the entire collateral management and contract execution mechanics occur on-chain via Morpho, deployed specifically on Base. The result speaks for itself: users have taken out loans totaling $866.3 million — representing 90% of active Morpho loans on Base.

In the same period, Morpho’s TVL on Base increased by an astonishing 1906% — from $48.2 million to $966.4 million. This story demonstrates how a distribution channel can transform into a powerful driver for protocol scaling.

User Paradox: Retail Traders vs. Large Volumes

An interesting trend has emerged in user behavior on Base. According to data on filtered unique addresses (that made at least two transactions with a spend of over 0.0001 gas per day), USDC has become the most popular application.

In November, the average daily number of users reached 83,400 — a 233% increase compared to 25,100 a year earlier. At the same time, retail traders’ interaction with the DEX segment has significantly declined: activity on Uniswap and Aerodrome decreased by 74% and 49%, respectively.

However, this does not indicate a decline in activity. On the contrary, trading volumes on DEXs have reached record highs — activity is increasingly concentrated in the hands of institutional traders and large players with substantial transaction volumes.

Base App: The Super-App as a Center of Gravity

Realizing the potential of Base involves moving beyond basic L2 metrics. The company is focusing on developing the creator economy, which could reach nearly $500 billion.

A strategic tool for this goal is Base App — a universal application integrating asset management, trading, social features, and core wallet functionalities. Unlike typical crypto wallets, Base App includes several innovative features:

• Social feed based on Farcaster and Zora protocols
• Private messaging and group chats via XMTP, supporting interaction between users and AI agents (including Bankr)
• Built-in search and launch of mini-apps directly within the Base App environment

Internal beta testing began in July of this year with a limited whitelist audience. Despite this, the network shows growth potential. Currently, 148,400 users have registered accounts, with registration rates accelerating by 93% in November compared to previous months.

User retention also demonstrates the project’s health: 6,300 users remain active weekly (a 74% monthly growth), and 10,500 users monthly (a 7% increase). Preliminary estimates suggest that Base App will complete internal testing within this month and be fully available to the public by the end of the year.

Content Tokenization: How Creators Can Monetize Their Work

The concept of a creator economy on Base envisions direct earnings for creators from their own content. Content created within Base App is tokenized by default (although users can disable this), turning each message into a marketplace.

Creators receive a share of commission fees — 1% from each content transaction. Technically, creator and content tokens are issued via the Zora protocol.

To date, creators have accumulated $6.1 million in revenue through the Zora mechanism, with an average monthly payout of $1.1 million since July. Over 6.52 million creator and content tokens have been tokenized overall.

However, some statistics raise questions: 6.45 million tokens (99%) have not received even five transactions. Only 17,800 tokens (0.3%) remained active 48 hours after issuance.

Nevertheless, these figures should be interpreted in the context of natural content distribution on the internet. The vast majority of content essentially has no commercial value. From this perspective, 99% of tokens that did not attract market attention merely reflect the organic hierarchy of content quality in the network.

The truly important indicator is activity beyond 48 hours — a signal of real value of the creator or content. Currently, this marker remains minuscule compared to the massive flow of content generated daily. However, an optimistic view suggests that if Base improves distribution mechanisms, content discovery, and creator tools, the potential for growth in this sphere is enormous.

Base Token: Incentive Design for a New Era

In September 2025, Base officially confirmed that it is considering launching its own token, although details regarding distribution, functionality, and release schedule remain under wraps.

The most interesting aspect is not the token itself but the scenarios for its use. Unlike most L2 solutions that are forced to attract liquidity through token incentives, Base has the opportunity to direct this instrument toward entirely different goals.

Instead of incentivizing short-term speculative operations, the Base token could foster participation from creators, engaged users, and social interactions — actions that sustainably support the ecosystem. This represents a fundamentally different approach to incentive design.

Conclusion: A Strategic Shift Toward the Creator Economy

Base has already moved beyond the stage of competing for basic L2 metrics. The network holds a consolidated position thanks to its user base, liquidity, and a portfolio of applications maintained through Coinbase’s distribution channel.

Now, the focus shifts to exploring applications for ordinary users and creators. If Base successfully implements a social and creative ecosystem, it will build a protective barrier that ensures much deeper user loyalty than traditional DeFi metrics or stablecoin balances.

This is an ambitious goal, but market logic shows that other L2 networks currently lack both the dissemination capabilities and strategic vision to realize such an ecosystem.