Coinbase’s Base Ecosystem: A Data-Driven Look at Its Growth and Key Metrics
Launched in August 2023, Coinbase’s Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 network, has rapidly gained traction and showcases a significant uptick across a set of key metrics.
Over the past 20 months, Base has extended its reach into decentralized finance, artificial intelligence, and consumer social media—a trifecta of market segments poised to make the most of its capabilities. By sizing the Base ecosystem and taking stock of its chain data, we can get a clear sense of where this new blockchain is headed and the next kinds of opportunities its backers can expect.
Base’s Economic Growth: The Chain’s GDP and Top Contributors
One of the most vital signs of any blockchain’s success is its Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which mirrors the total of all fees amassed by the applications on the chain. Base’s GDP stands at a staggering $758.7 million, making for a jaw-dropping number, not just for Base, but for any blockchain, really. That figure, again, amasses the total of all fees from all applications on Base.
Base’s GDP is being contributed to by a great mix of applications—some in DeFi, but plenty from other sectors—each of which is doing its own part to make Base a destination for both users and developers.
Here are the top five applications by contribution to Base’s GDP:
1. AerodromeFi (DeFi)
2. Uniswap (DeFi)
3. Friendtech (AI)
4. Virtuals_io (consumer social)
5. SynFuturesDefi (quant financials)
These apps are pushing in different directions and coming from different sectors, but they’re all part of the equation that is making Base an increasingly busy place.
AerodromeFi has emerged as a top contributor, specifically in DeFi, where it has attracted significant liquidity and generated considerable trading fees.
Uniswap, the decentralized exchange (DEX) giant, continues to play a key role in Base’s growth, contributing not only to its GDP but also to the network’s liquidity and trading activity.
Friendtech and Virtuals_io, with their focus on social and AI applications, highlight the increasing importance of these sectors within the Web3 ecosystem, offering users innovative ways to engage with decentralized platforms.
SynFuturesDefi, focusing on derivative products, rounds out the group of key players driving growth on Base.
On-Chain Lending: A Growing Sector on Base
Another crucial measurement for evaluating the prosperity and growth of Base is its on-chain lending market. Right now, the amount of active loans on Base totals a hefty $720.2 million, which points to certainly not poor performance in the lending sector. This underscores that decentralized lending applications are being utilized on Base—loans secured via these apps are growing ever more popular among Base’s user base.
MorphoLabs, Aave, MoonwellDeFi, EulerFinance, 0xFluid, and SeamlessFi are some of the leading platforms in the lending space on Base. If you ask me, it’s a pretty cool club to be a part of. (Base, by the way, is a blockchain built on Ethereum that offers a trustless and decentralized environment for its users; in other words, it’s a DeFi space where you might execute smart contracts for borrowing and lending digital assets.) MorphoLabs, Aave, MoonwellDeFi, EulerFinance, 0xFluid, and SeamlessFi occupy an MPEG space. They’re for real.
Coinbase launched @base, an @ethereum L2, in Aug '23.
In other words, the Base mainnet has been operational for ~20 months.
Let's take a data-driven look at how the Base ecosystem has grown since launch. 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/dJKmHgDH0q
— Token Terminal 📊 (@tokenterminal) March 28, 2025
The steady increase in outstanding loans indicates that demand for decentralized lending is on the rise. The success of such protocols is taken to reflect a broader trend in favor of using blockchain technology to build out financial services. Integrating lending into Base is seen as a way to prime the ecosystem and get it moving in terms of economic activity. This serves two purposes: albeit not exactly a killer app, lending is a way to diversify Ethereum L2’s portfolio of use cases.
Trading Volume on DEXs: Base’s Dominance in Decentralized Exchange Activity
When considering the trading volume on decentralized exchanges (DEXs), Base shines brightly. Total trading volume on DEXs within Base’s ecosystem has to date reached an astonishing $294 billion. Leading the trading activity is AerodromeFi, followed closely by Uniswap and PancakeSwap.
These top decentralized exchanges (DEXs) show that there is a strong demand for decentralized trading on the Base network. The DEX with the top trading volume is Aerodrome Finance, which also leads the way in attracting users looking for DeFi products such as trading and investment. Uniswap, as the leading DEX on Ethereum, naturally plays a strong role in rendering Base’s trading ecosystem useful, providing a lot of liquidity and a huge amount of trades. Another DEX that is also growing is PancakeSwap; originally, it gained a lot of prominence on Binance Smart Chain (BSC) but has since expanded onto Base.
Total trading volume of $294.0 billion is a clear indicator of how the ecosystem of Base is performing. We see a clear trend of how a not insignificant portion of the market is coming to our decentralized platforms to do trustless, peer-to-peer trading with one another.
Stablecoins: USDC and EURC Lead the Stablecoin Supply on Base
The stablecoins are another fundamental component of Base’s ecosystem—especially when it comes to maintaining stability and liquidity. At present, Base’s total stablecoin supply is $3.8 billion. Of that, USDC and EURC (both issued by Circle) account for the vast majority of stablecoin activity.
The stablecoin USDC is one of the most frequently employed ones in the cryptocurrency field. Its ecosystem has been a primary source of liquidity for Base, where they have operationalized USDC and its sister, the Euro-pegged stablecoin EURC, to maintain price stability across the spectrum of applications that Base offers. As Base looks to expand its horizons and reach new users, the stablecoins have become all the more critical in that they provide avenues to maintain price stability across those applications that are always strategies more short-term in nature.
Given such a sturdy stablecoin supply, Base is set up well to back big-time trades and decentralized applications that need dependable, price-stable assets. This really cements my confidence in using App on Base.
Conclusion: Base’s Growing Ecosystem and Future Potential
In only 20 months, Base has rapidly matured into a robust, diverse ecosystem that boasts impressive GDP metrics, on-chain lending, DEX trading volume, and stablecoin supply. With over $758.7 million in GDP, $720.2 million in active loans, $294.0 billion in trading volume, and a stablecoin supply of $3.8 billion, Base has established itself as a major player in the Ethereum Layer 2 world.
Base’s growth can clearly be seen to be ongoing, and we can see a clear reason for it as well. Base has a really good range of applications, and that’s across the board—from DeFi and AI to consumer social markets. It looks diverse, but the ecosystem’s ability to attract top projects and major players in these sectors shows us that Base is really a platform for decentralized innovation. That reflects really well on Base.
Base’s ecosystem is a continued expansion, and it seems increasingly likely that it will play a very important role—perhaps an even more important role—than it does now in the overall blockchain and cryptocurrency market, thanks to its scalability, low fees, and payment to developers in a practically native community.
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any Metaverse crypto coins.
