- The daily transactions on Coinbase’s Base network have surpassed those on the Ethereum blockchain
- Transactions on Base reached 1.37 million while Ethereum recorded 1.01 million on August 21, but Ethereum maintained the lead on daily active addresses
- The rise in transactions on Base is attributed to the ongoing hype around the Friend.tech app
Coinbase’s Base network has beaten Ethereum in daily transactions, recording 1.37 million transactions against Ethereum’s 1.01 million transactions on August 21. However, the daily active addresses on the Ethereum blockchain overshadowed those on Base by a difference of 162,000 addresses. The rise in daily transactions on Base is linked to the hype around the Based-powered Friend.tech app, with some in the web3 world warning that the frenzy is short-lived.
Transactions Come From Spammers and Bots
According to data, the daily transactions on Base have been on a steep increase since August 17 while those on Ethereum have been largely constant around one million transactions daily.
Analysts have however noted that most of the transactions on Base are linked to the popular Friend.tech app. The app allows users to tokenize their friends’ Twitter profiles and trade them as shares or keys. Purchasing a Twitter profile’s keys gives the buyer access to that profile’s private messages.
Some analysts like Flashbots’ Robert Miller have disclosed that most of the transactions on the Ethereum layer-two platform originate from spammers and bots interacting with the app. According to analytics platform DeFiLlama, the app has generated over $700,000 in fees and more than $360,000 in revenue in the last 24 hours.
Figured it out, I think
Searchers are watching for new accounts to bridge to Base
Then they spam the chain with buys for those accounts’ FT shares, trying to blindly land behind the new account whenever it buys
The wins outweigh the cost of reverts. Strat explained below. https://t.co/n07Sgpbr9Q
— @bertcmiller ⚡️🤖 (@bertcmiller) August 21, 2023
A Nasty End in Store?
The apps’ critics see the hype as not only a fad but also one that’s likely to “end badly when the onboarding slows down.”
From the 30 mins I just spent on the app, I’m with @beaniemaxi on this. I don’t see how this doesn’t end badly when the onboarding slows down.
— gmoney.9dcc.eth (@gmoneyNFT) August 21, 2023
Apart from the app showcasing Base’s bright side, the network has also been accused of having a dark side. The platform is estimated to host around 500 scam tokens while some of its projects like SwirlLend have conducted a rug pull.
Since it’s not known when the hype around Friend.tech will subside, the app is poised to continue beating Ethereum on daily transactions and possibly on daily active addresses and other metrics.
