It has been quite a dynamic week since Coinbase unveiled its layer-2 network, Base, to the public. This launch has ignited a wave of enthusiasm from the crypto community, along with notable engagement from prominent brands. Sadly, there have also been instances of malicious activities.
Coinbase’s Onchain Summer festival, a three-week celebration of Base’s debut, has undeniably enticed a multitude of new users into joining the ecosystem. Data from Dune Analytics indicates that, as of August 16, over 700,000 individuals have become part of the Base network. Collectively, they have bridged an impressive $242 million onto the network. The chain experienced its peak activity on August 10, with over 136,000 daily active users.
In terms of financial impact, the network has generated an astonishing $2.8 million in fees, and the total value locked (TVL) has soared to $170.5 million, as reported by DeFiLlama.
Notably, Base has gained involvement from one of the world’s major soft drink brands, Coca-Cola. The company has launched its own unique collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Base network.
Network participation is not limited to traditional entities as crypto-native organizations are also joining in. On August 16, Synthetix, a DeFi derivatives protocol, announced that its motion to deploy on the Base network was unanimously approved by the members of its governing DAO, the Spartan Council.
A significant product launch on Base was the decentralized social (DeSo) network called Friend.tech. This platform enables crypto users to tokenize their social network by purchasing and selling “shares” of their friends. Since its introduction on August 11, the social media platform has witnessed a trading volume of approximately 7,736 Ether, as reported by Dune Analytics.
On August 14, anotherblock, a music NFT platform, was introduced, showcasing exclusive on-chain releases from renowned electronic music producers Boys Noize and Laidback Luke.
Following its public launch, the Base Network has gained support from Trust Wallet, a self-custody service owned by Binance, and Fireblocks, an enterprise-grade digital asset platform.
Anthony Sassano, an Ethereum advocate, expressed his appreciation for the growing trend towards decentralized applications and on-chain activities. He even predicted that centralized exchanges will eventually serve merely as fiat ramps.
Bad actors find new base
Although the broader crypto community has shown excitement, the launch of the network has also attracted the interest of malicious individuals, leading to several exploits and rug pulls following its public debut.
On August 14, RocketSwap, a prominent decentralized exchange, disclosed that they experienced an exploit resulting in an approximate loss of $865,000 from the protocol.
The most recent occurrence transpired on August 17, when SwirlLend, a crypto lending platform, executed an “exit scam,” commonly referred to as a rug pull.
SwirlLend took drastic measures by erasing its social media presence and website, reportedly transferring approximately $290,000 worth of cryptocurrency from Base, along with an additional $1.7 million from Linea. It further concealed 253.2 ETH by utilizing the Tornado Cash crypto mixer for money laundering.
Since the network’s mainnet launch, malicious actors have been lurking. On July 31, a memecoin named “BALD,” inspired by Brian Armstrong, experienced an 85% loss in value when the developer unexpectedly withdrew $1.9 million in liquidity from the token’s pools. However, the developer has denied any involvement in a rug pull.
The next day, LeetSwap, the largest decentralized exchange on Base at the time, revealed that certain liquidity pools had been compromised, resulting in losses exceeding $600,000.