<\/p>\n
Coinbase may be pulling off a move that runs opposite to crypto\u2019s holiest cypherpunk ideals: fostering an unironic vibe around Base, its corporate-powered L2.<\/p>\n
No matter how you look at it, Base is popping off. The rollup network, built on the OP Stack, is posting all-time high transaction counts, stablecoin volumes and unique addresses.<\/p>\n
The rising popularity of its native AMM, Aerodrome, has helped push Base\u2019s total value locked to $2.57 billion \u2014 more than double Polygon and Avalanche.<\/p>\n
It took years for those other networks to attract all that liquidity and mindshare. Base<\/a> has done it in under eight months. And while Base still has only a small fraction of Optimism and Arbitrum\u2019s TVL, Base is now firmly within spitting<\/a> distance of Blast, the L2 offering native yield to attract crypto natives.\u00a0<\/p>\n Somehow, Base has developed its own culture. Base boasts bustling NFT markets where being \u201cbased\u201d is a big deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ethereum has Bored Apes<\/a> and CryptoPunks. Base, on the other hand, has Tiny Baseds Frogs, Based Fellas, and Primitives \u2014 the latter of which is a generative pixel art collection with \u201ccrypto-native\u201d characters. All have seen millions of dollars of trade in the past week.<\/p>\n The sudden popularity of friend.tech<\/a> was, in many ways, Base\u2019s breakout moment. It gave the crypto crowd a familiar proof of concept with which to fool around as they waited for the bull market: Invest crypto in shares of your favorite social media accounts, like BitClout without its own blockchain or native cryptocurrency.\u00a0<\/p>\n Friend.tech has died down but the spirit has lived on. Base creator Jesse Pollak, also head of protocols at Coinbase, has pushed to find ways<\/a> to fuse the network with Web3 social media app Farcaster and its programmable Frames.<\/p>\n Pollak has even been spotted in Base-flavored memecoin Telegram groups, spreading<\/a> based vibes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Coinbase is so far successfully distilling all that buzz down into revenue. Gross profit<\/a> for Base nearly cleared $4.5 million over the past week alone, up from under $100,000 in the first week of January.\u00a0<\/p>\n The secret source for crypto exchanges is diversifying from transaction revenues, and Base may be the killer ingredient for Coinbase<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n About 60% of Coinbase\u2019s revenue last quarter was transaction fees, more than $500 million. Base\u2019s annualized profit<\/em> right now, based on the past week, is about $235 million.\u00a0<\/p>\n All Coinbase needs to do is keep the vibes high.<\/p>\n \u2014 David Canellis<\/em><\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc9 Fees for Ethereum L2s are still very low after the Dencun hard fork, at or below<\/a> $0.01 on Optimism, Starknet, Arbitrum and zkSync Era.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcb5 There\u2019s again almost $150 billion in stablecoins sloshing around crypto markets, levels not seen since September 2022 (just before FTX).<\/p>\n \ud83d\udd22 Thanks to Hyperliquid, Arbitrum is still the no. 1 network for on-chain derivatives<\/a>: $4 billion over the past 24 hours to Ethereum mainnet\u2019s $1.36 billion.<\/p>\n \u3030 Bitcoin<\/a> hovers just below $71,000 while ether<\/a> trades around the $3,600 level.\u00a0<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcc8Coinbase shares<\/a> rallied during the pre-market trade, gaining 4% after closing almost 10% higher on Monday<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Days after being hit with sanctions in a US district court, the Securities and Exchange Commission was served another lawsuit Monday, this time from co-defendants \u2014 the DeFi Education Fund and NFT issuer Beba.\u00a0<\/p>\n The DeFi Education Fund seeks a court order declaring that Beba \u2014 \u201ca small, family-owned business in Waco, Texas,\u201d in the words of Chief Legal Officer Amanda Tuminelli \u2014\u00a0didn\u2019t break US securities laws with its free airdrop.\u00a0<\/p>\n The pair also claims that the SEC violated the Administrative Procedure Act, an allegation we\u2019ve seen brought up in several suits between the regulator and crypto companies. Coinbase most recently evoked this argument in its March appeal to grant a petition for rulemaking<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Going head to head with the SEC in court is no small feat. It\u2019s time-consuming and expensive. Just ask Ripple, which spent $200 million and 38 months \u2014 and counting \u2014 on their defense against the securities regulator<\/a>. That\u2019s not even counting the penalties they will eventually owe.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even bigger crypto firms that have opted to settle in the past are now choosing to fight. Kraken, which settled charges associated with its staking program<\/a> a year ago, is defending itself against SEC allegations that it\u2019s operating as an unregistered securities exchange.\u00a0<\/p>\n Critics argue that under the SEC\u2019s so-called \u201cregulation by enforcement\u201d regime, lawsuits are the only way for the industry to get answers. Going on the offense, though \u2014 filing suits before the SEC has a chance to issue an enforcement action \u2014 appears to be the latest trend.\u00a0<\/p>\n If it works, the industry owes the DeFi Education Fund and Beba a huge thank you. If it doesn\u2019t? Well, at least now we\u2019ve all heard of Beba.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2014 Casey Wagner<\/em><\/p>\n The US presidential race is well underway, and the momentum for political memecoins continues.<\/p>\n The group is based on politicians such as President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, with MAGA being one of the most popularly known ones. MAGA has a $248 million market cap, according to data from CoinGecko.<\/p>\n Solana-based BODEN is a Biden memecoin, as the name suggests. It quickly gained momentum, popping 850% in just 14 days. TREMP, which sits in the more diluted category of Trump-based memecoins, saw a 70% increase over the past 14 days, though it\u2019s trading higher than BODEN at $0.427. BODEN sits at $0.318.<\/p>\n In an election year, political memecoins launch and trade purely on hype. There are also pretty clear bear and bull cases, which stand out in the broader memecoin market. Some bull cases center around the upcoming election and the potential for debates. Among the bear cases: there\u2019s too much momentum, and too early in the election cycle, for traders to keep up.<\/p>\n In all fairness, memecoins across the board show that there\u2019s still an appetite in the market despite the risk of a rug pull and overall volatility.\u00a0<\/p>\n Political memecoins prove one thing, however: Crypto can both be taken seriously<\/a> and allow the unserious to continue \u2014\u00a0whether it comes in the form of Trump and Biden coins or, you know, a dog with a little hat.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2014 Katherine Ross<\/em><\/p>\n Welcome to The Works<\/strong> \ud83d\udc4b Your daily slice of crypto (and not-so-crypto) from around the Web. \ud83d\udd78\ufe0f<\/p>\n \ud83e\uddeaFred Ehrsam<\/strong> tested out Farcaster<\/strong> as a platform for research bounties, complete with a $1,000 prize. The results: \u201cit worked pretty well!\u201d Read Ehrsam\u2019s thread<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u26a1Researchers at Cornell University<\/strong> contend that crypto mining combined with so-called green hydrogen<\/strong> could spur<\/a> \u201cthe foundation for wider deployment of renewable energy.\u201d<\/p>\n \ud83e\udd1d\u201dRefurbished\u201d crypto mining hardware will find new homes after the upcoming bitcoin halving<\/strong> renders them less profitable, Bloomberg reports<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 Speaking of bitcoin: in case you missed it, bitcoin exchange-traded notes are arriving<\/a> in London this spring. Get excited.\u00a0<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcb8 BlackRock<\/strong> is positioning bitcoin as a portfolio diversifier to its clients, CNBC reports<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cringy TikTok trend \ud83e\udd1d Crypto Twitter. Some things really don\u2019t change\u2026including our mental health, I guess.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the marketing Cardano needs,\u201d one user replied<\/a>. Yes, because Cardano needs marketing that includes a (semi-joking) thirst trap aimed at Charles Hoskinson.\u00a0<\/p>\n For his part, Hoskinson replied<\/a> that he was \u201cblushing\u201d after watching the video. But, hey, it\u2019s always a bonus to see women in crypto.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nD<\/strong>ata Center<\/h2>\n
\u2696\ufe0f So, we\u2019re all suing the SEC now?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 Why political memecoins matter\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Works<\/h2>\n
The Morning Riff<\/h3>\n