Base recorded a remarkable 1.88 million transactions on Thursday, surpassing the combined transaction volumes of its layer 2 counterparts Arbitrum and Optimism, which registered 780,000 and 370,000 transactions, respectively.
Lucas Outumuro, Head of Research at IntoTheBlock, observed an intriguing trend, noting that a significant portion of the increased usage could be attributed to a new social application called FriendTech.
A decentralized social network platform built on Base, FriendTech bills itself as “the marketplace for your friends.” The platform recently experienced a surge in usage, with its daily transactions also reaching an all-time high, registering 529,000 transactions according to IntoTheBlock’s data. This surge was partially fueled by users striving to accumulate points for an upcoming airdrop, a report in CoinDesk said.
In early August, when FriendTech was initially launched, Base also witnessed a surge in activity, setting a new record for daily active users. Additionally, Base achieved an average of 15.88 transactions per second in August, surpassing Ethereum and other competing layer 2 blockchains like Arbitrum and Optimism. Much of this heightened activity was credited to FriendTech.
Notably, following its initial surge, FriendTech’s transaction volumes saw a significant decline, dropping from its peak of 525,000 transactions in early August to 51,000 by the end of the month. Base’s daily transactions also experienced a temporary lull during the same period.
IntoTheBlock attributes the recent upswing in Base’s activity to the evolution of Ethereum’s layer 2 ecosystems, with participants becoming more specialized in their respective niches. Base’s rapid growth in unique addresses and transaction volumes, fueled by Coinbase’s extensive user base, positions it as an attractive platform for social applications like FriendTech to flourish.
Furthermore, FriendTech’s activity on Base did not contribute to network congestion and elevated fees on the Ethereum blockchain, as previous frenzies have done. Some analysts view this as a potential sign that the blockchain’s efforts to scale through the development of supplementary “layer-2” networks, such as Coinbase’s Base, are yielding positive results.
