Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base, believes that memes play a crucial role in attracting millions of users to his layer-2 network, which has experienced significant growth since March. Pollak expressed his excitement about the impact of memes on the on-chain economy, stating that he looks forward to seeing more memes that promote the adoption of blockchain technology. The popularity of Base and the number of transactions have increased following the Ethereum Dencun upgrade, which reduced fees on layer-2 networks. As a result, the total value locked in Base has grown by nearly 250% since the beginning of March, reaching a record high of $1.61 billion on April 21.
Pollak stressed that memes creators on Base have found innovative ways to onboard people to their communities, going beyond speculation. He described the current situation as a “Cambrian explosion of onboarding experiments,” where numerous attempts are being made to introduce more people to the culture of Base. Pollak expressed confidence that memes will attract millions of new users to Base in the future, becoming one of the main drivers of growth.
He also highlighted the presence of numerous teams and sub-cultures within Base, all contributing to the development and growth of the platform. These teams bring their own energy, culture, and ideas to the Base ecosystem, creating a vibrant capital market. In terms of memecoins, BRETT is currently the most popular one on Base, with a market cap of $567 million. Since March, BRETT has experienced a significant price increase of 7,780%. Other large-cap memecoins on the Coinbase blockchain include DEGEN with a market cap of $435 million and TOSHI with $185 million.
Platforms like Solana and Base have become attractive to memecoin enthusiasts due to their high throughput and low fees. An investigation by revealed that 16.7% of new Base memecoins were scams, and more than 90% of them had vulnerabilities. Despite these challenges, the growth and potential of memes in driving user adoption on Base remain promising.
I don’t see how memes can attract serious, long-term users to Base.
Memes have no place in the world of blockchain. This is just a cheap attempt at gaining popularity.
Memes are the epitome of shallowness. It’s sad to see them being used as a marketing tool.
I’m disappointed in Pollak for promoting such a superficial approach.
This is a joke, right? Memes are not a valid reason for people to join Base.