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Memecoins push Base past Manta to No. 3 in layer 2s with $566m in deposits

Memecoins push Base past Manta to No. 3 in layer 2s with $566m in deposits
DeFi
Base reaches $566 million in deposits, thanks to the rise in memecoin trading. Credit: Andrés Tapia
By
Ryan Celaj
  • Base, a Coinbase-incubated Ethereum layer 2 blockchain, reached an all-time high of $566 million in deposited crypto assets.
  • Memecoin trading has contributed significantly to Base's growth.
  • Despite its rise, the volatility of memecoins could pose a risk to the stability of the total value of crypto assets on Base.

Base, an Ethereum layer 2 blockchain that was incubated by crypto exchange Coinbase, has hit an all-time high with $566 million in deposits, with over $145 million added in the last seven days alone.

The increase in deposits pushed Base past Manta’s $555 million to claim the spot as the third-largest Ethereum rollup, behind giants Arbitrum and Optimism.

Total value of crypto assets deposited on Base

The movement underscores the increasing competition among Ethereum layer 2s, and in Base’s case, it highlights how memecoin trading can boost a blockchain’s key metrics.

The top two protocols on Base are Aerodrome and Uniswap, both of which are decentralised exchanges. Together, they make up $276 million of Base’s total value of crypto assets deposited.

Manta’s top two protocols are lending protocols LayerBank and Shoebill, accounting for $487 million of the total value of crypto assets deposited on Manta.

According to Dexscreener, an analytics tool that provides insights into decentralised exchanges trading data, the total volume on Manta in the last 24 hours was only $14 million, while Base’s volume was $158 million.

Looking at the top trading pairs on each chain, 14 out of the top 20 on Base are for memecoins, while there isn’t a single memecoin in the top 20 for Manta.

Memecoins are cryptocurrencies inspired by internet memes, trends in pop culture, and viral phenomena. Trading for these memecoins usually begins on decentralised exchanges because those exchanges don’t require the expensive listing fees found on centralised exchanges.

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Once a memecoin is large enough, centralised exchanges tend to list it, as seen with Binance listing WIF today. WIF’s market cap has crossed $1 billion in the last week.

With the recent memecoin frenzy on dominant blockchains like Solana and Ethereum, Base was well positioned to take advantage of the trend.

On Base, most of the memecoins have drawn inspiration from Brian Armstrong, the founder of Coinbase.

Coins like TOSHI, named after Armstrong’s cat, and TYBG, a memecoin with Armstrong depicted as a godly figure, are up 106% and 71% respectively in the last seven days.

These price gains directly increase the total value of crypto assets on Base, as the combined market capitalisation of these coins has risen to $194 million from $101 million in the last seven days.

Still, memecoins remain one of the most volatile sectors in the already volatile cryptocurrency market.

A dramatic decrease in price for some of the Base native memecoins could send the total value of its deposits plummeting.

This is already beginning to happen with popular memecoins on other blockchains.

Two of the more popular memecoins on Solana, WIF and BONK, are down 20% and 25% today, while Ethereum memecoins DOGE and SHIB are down 20% and 14%.

Got a tip about DeFi? Reach out at ryan@dlnews.com.