Opportunities on Base

The Spaces explored a packed week in crypto markets and honed in on Base’s momentum and opportunities. William (Flagship) opened with seven major news items: a markedly bullish week for BTC (119k, +7%), ETH (+9%), Zcash (+140%); intensifying stablecoin initiatives by SWIFT, Deutsche Börse Group with Circle, and Stripe; nine European banks planning a euro-pegged stablecoin; Plasma L1’s explosive TVL growth ($8.5B); Andre Cronje’s $200M raise for The Flying Tulip; derivatives/perps leading narratives; and the SEC’s potential green light for tokenized equities on-chain. Guy (OpenOcean) and Darren (QuickSwap) detailed why Base wins: Coinbase’s seamless on-ramps, cheap transactions, sticky liquidity, and improving UX (Base/CB wallets and mini-app distribution). Both stressed reliable metrics (24h volume, fees, holder revenue via DeFiLlama) while dismissing spoofable DAU/wallet counts. Opportunities discussed included creator tokens (with QuickSwap liquidity incentives), builder grants and Coinbase’s compliance-focused X402 token standard, prediction market inefficiencies, and an aggregated cross-chain future. Updates: OpenOcean integrated Plasma, campaigns live, monad deployment and OE tokenomics changes coming; QuickSwap launched an insured Strategy Hub targeting realistic, repeatable yields; Flagship is rolling out private-beta copy trading with account/chain abstraction.

Base Ecosystem Deep Dive – Twitter Spaces Recap

Participants and Roles

• William (Host, speaking on behalf of Flagship)
• Guy (Business Development & Growth Lead, OpenOcean)
• Darren (Head of Ecosystem, QuickSwap)

Weekly Market News Highlights (as shared by William)

• Item 1: Market rebound
  • After a volatile 2–3 weeks, the last 7 days were markedly bullish.
  • Bitcoin is “currently above 119K,” up ~7% on the week.
  • Ethereum up ~9% on the week.
  • Privacy coin Zcash up ~140%.
  • “Pandas Fund” did well despite new feature releases being limited; new token launches and revenue reportedly dropped.
  • A $5.5B lawsuit filed against “Bump Dot Fund” (Pump.fun) for predatory launch mechanics.
• Item 2: Stablecoins take center stage globally
  • SWIFT announced a new ledger with 30 financial institutions for 24/7 cross-border payments.
  • Deutsche Börse Group and Circle partnered to advance stablecoin adoption in Europe.
  • Stripe introduced a new platform for launching and managing stablecoins.
• Item 3: Euro-pegged stablecoin initiatives
  • Nine large European banks will issue a euro-pegged stablecoin.
  • Digital Euro (CBDC) was planned for this month; competitive pressure from US stablecoin regs noted.
  • Hope expressed that Europe opts for open stablecoins on public blockchains rather than closed CBDCs.
• Item 4: Plasma L1 launch
  • Plasma: a new layer-1 tailored to stablecoins and payments; chain “antogon” launched on Sept 25.
  • TVL hit $2B at launch; later checked at ~$8.5B.
  • XPL token launched; price was volatile; TVL “up only.” Rapid dApp deployment underway.
• Item 5: Andre Cronje’s new project
  • Raised $200M at a $1B token valuation for “The Flying Tulip” — an on-chain financial marketplace focused on derivatives, credit, and risk transfer.
  • William’s note: “Never bet against Andre Cronje.”
• Item 6: Narrative performance
  • According to “Dexu,” most narratives were flat except derivatives and perps, which were massively up.
  • Crypto users’ appetite for risk and leverage cited as rationale.
• Item 7: On-chain stocks momentum
  • Indications from the U.S. SEC of movement toward allowing on-chain stocks; decision may be forthcoming.
  • NASDAQ filed to allow tokenized equities and other securities in early September.
  • William views this as highly bullish for crypto: TVL, collateral, yields, and DeFi activity could “explode.” Envisions swapping stocks vs. crypto on-chain (e.g., Uniswap).

Project Introductions

• OpenOcean (Guy)
  • A multi-chain DEX aggregator with strong B2B focus.
  • Provides swaps, zaps, rebalancing, cross-chain swaps, and UX/UI tooling for DeFi verticals.
  • Base is a preferred deployment environment; OpenOcean uses Base to ship first versions of new tools.
  • Deployed non-custodial limit orders and DCA early on Base.
• QuickSwap (Darren)
  • Began as a Uniswap v2 fork on Polygon; at one point outpaced Uniswap in certain metrics (e.g., “1.5B daily TVL,” “1.5B daily volume,” higher daily tx than “East Magnet” in 2021).
  • Community-first token launch: turned down presales and VCs; “97% of supply” given to community; aims for regulatory safety via launch mechanics.
  • Expanded beyond Polygon; now on Base; positioning as a one-stop DeFi shop (spot trades, perps, integrated liquidity managers).

Why Base Is Winning (Perspectives)

• Guy (OpenOcean)
  • Narratives and Coinbase alignment: Coinbase as a powerful onramp; easy USDC transfers between Coinbase and on-chain.
  • Sticky liquidity, cheap transactions, robust LP activity.
  • Aggregators help ease entry; Base consistently delivers volume and traffic, making it ideal for first deployments.
  • Wallet UX (personal setup): Coinbase Wallet for transactional ease; Rabby as portfolio view; MetaMask backup.
  • Sees Coinbase fostering a “web2.5 bank” experience bridging centralized and on-chain.
• Darren (QuickSwap)
  • Base’s positioning: “Base is for everyone,” focusing on scaling a single chain for broad adoption.
  • Onboarding flow: fiat-to-meme coin simplified; free ETH withdraws to Base; “Coinbase stack swaps” enable self-custody within Coinbase app without seed phrase friction.
  • Smoothed end-to-end experience reduces barriers for retail.

Wallet UX and Distribution Evolution

• William
  • Recommends Base Wallet: turning the wallet into a DApp store, integrating swap/transfers, fiat on/off ramps, and social layers.
  • Aims to abstract complexity and centralize UX within the wallet.
• Darren
  • Highlights Base App’s mini-app ecosystem as a distribution channel for builders; distribution is often the differentiator between similar products.

Metrics That Matter (and Those That Don’t)

• Darren
  • Focuses on altcoin volume and organic community presence.
  • Skeptical of “unique wallets” and address counts due to botting; Telegram bots can inflate metrics (e.g., micro-trades on trackers).
• Guy
  • Prioritizes daily volume, fees generated, and pricing accuracy for aggregators.
  • Watches token flow trends across partners and resellers to detect shifts and drama.
  • Monitors DEX-specific volume and integrates new liquidity sources (e.g., v33 models) to stay competitive.
  • DefiLlama used extensively; fees generated in last 24h seen as a strong health indicator, harder to spoof than DAUs.
• William
  • Aligns with fee/revenue focus; praises DefiLlama’s customizable dashboards.
• Darren
  • Uses DefiLlama’s “holder revenue per protocol” to identify community value return; QuickSwap often ranks in top 20–30 for revenue sharing back to holders.

Opportunities on Base (Builders and Traders)

• Darren
  • Base App mini-apps as a distribution lever.
  • QuickSwap is allocating more rewards on Base than Polygon.
  • Bullish on creator tokens (e.g., Zora, “creator tokens”):
    • Easier token deployment than years past.
    • Offers LM rewards for creator tokens; supports launchpads that return fees to creators.
    • Incentive design: creator share of fees discourages rugging while maintaining monetization.
• William
  • Strongly bullish on creator coins: expects a 10x improvement for creators vs. traditional platforms (X/YouTube), which have skewed revenue shares.
  • Not certain current platforms (e.g., Pump.fun streamers, Zora) are the final form, but believes tokenized creator economics will disrupt legacy social platforms.
• Guy
  • Cautious optimism on creator tokens; sees applicability for a subset of large creators.
  • Notes prior “club tokens” (e.g., football) as precedent; expects continued experimentation.
  • Emphasizes builder support on Base: grants, hackathons, builder programs (Coinbase-native and external), and encourages solo devs to apply.
  • Mentions Coinbase’s new token standard “x402” (ERC20-like with compliance baked in) tailored for assets (stablecoins, T-bills) moving on-chain while remaining compliant; others aim to port beyond Base.

Prediction Markets: Growth and Inefficiency

• William
  • Sees prediction markets (Kalshi, Polymarket) as daily “truth” feeds in a post-truth era, especially when paired with LLMs (e.g., Grok, ChatGPT).
  • Notes strong volumes persisting beyond elections and ongoing growth (even a recent South Park episode on prediction markets).
  • Identifies trader opportunities in market inefficiencies; observes Base projects (including creator/virtuals ecosystems) exploring arbitrage/alpha in prediction markets.
• Guy
  • Expects more surprise launches akin to Plasma; underscores how teams build rails long before mass adoption.
  • Points to Hyperliquid airdrop and narrative curation as attention drivers; sees trend continuing on and beyond Base.

Plasma vs. Base: Coexistence and Chain Abstraction

• Guy (OpenOcean)
  • OpenOcean integrated Plasma within two days of launch, with internal testing and an open bug bounty.
  • Views Plasma not as a direct Base competitor but part of a crowded multi-chain attention landscape.
  • Base benefits from Coinbase’s brand and onramp; Plasma needs time for awareness to catch up to TVL.
• Darren (QuickSwap)
  • Advocates for an aggregated-chain future where wallets present unified balances across chains, abstracting chain selection entirely.
  • Mentions initiatives like Polygon’s AggLayer, Optimism’s Superchain, zkSync’s Elastic Chains.
  • Near-term user congregation gravitates to chains where “you can do everything,” but long-term seamless inter-chain UX will make the underlying chain irrelevant.
• William
  • Confirms Flagship is implementing account and chain abstraction so users interact with assets, not chains.

Project Updates and Calls to Action

• OpenOcean (Guy)
  • Upcoming Monad deployment at mainnet.
  • Current campaigns: Reserve on Sonic; Drift trading campaign active on OpenOcean.
  • Governance consultation live on OE tokenomics: plans to increase buybacks and capacity; invites community feedback.
• QuickSwap (Darren)
  • Strategy Hub on Base (single-asset vaults): deposit USDC/BTC/ETH; strategies include Compound looping, delta-neutral, QuickSwap integrations.
  • Goal: earn more of the deposited asset; reported USDC yields ~18–19%.
  • Vaults insured via Atomica; upcoming use case where staking QUICK may serve as insurance backing with yield.
  • Emphasis on realistic, protocol-driven yield vs. unsustainable high-APY farm meta; users prefer reliable, stable yields.
  • Dev pedigree: team includes experience from managing DAI’s peg before automation.
  • Potential “STRATEX” token launch; early depositors may benefit.
• Flagship (William)
  • Agent performance visible at agent.flagship.fyi.
  • Copy trading internally tested; first revenue generated.
  • Private beta slated “this month” (early), with gradual onboarding; prioritization by FYI hold/stake and contributor activity.
  • Account abstraction live; chain abstraction likely at launch; Q4 beta kept exclusive to preserve edge.

Key Takeaways

• Base’s competitive edge stems from Coinbase’s onramp, smooth UX, sticky liquidity, and builder support.
• Fee/revenue metrics (vs. user counts) are more reliable indicators of ecosystem health.
• Creator tokens are early but promising; aligning incentives (fee shares to creators) reduces rug risk and rewards community value.
• Prediction markets are scaling beyond election cycles, offering traders exploitable inefficiencies.
• Plasma’s record TVL growth showcases how new L1s can rapidly capture attention; expect coexistence with Base amid broader chain abstraction.
• The industry is moving toward aggregated, chain-abstracted experiences where users see assets, not chains.

Suggested Actions for Listeners

• Explore Base Wallet and Base App mini-apps for a simplified, integrated on-chain experience.
• Track DefiLlama’s fee and holder revenue dashboards to spot sustainable protocols and genuine user value.
• For builders: apply to Coinbase/Base grants and hackathons; consider OpenOcean’s B2B tooling and QuickSwap’s ecosystem programs.
• For traders: monitor creator token launches (e.g., Zora ecosystem) and prediction market inefficiencies for alpha.
• Review OpenOcean’s current campaigns and governance consultation; test QuickSwap’s Strategy Hub for stable, insured yields.
• Follow Flagship for copy trading private beta invitations; staking FYI can improve access priority.