How Base empowers everyday users in DeFi
DeFi pushed the financial sphere by letting users take part in financial activities without resorting to centralized intermediaries. There are different protocols offering opportunities for lending, borrowing, trading, and earning interest on digital assets. Accessing DeFi protocols means navigating varied transaction fees. Complex user interfaces for many users present a barrier to participation among average users. In the previous article, we discussed how AI Agents can challenge the mundane processes of legacy DeFi mechanisms.
Base as a DeFi hub
That is where Coinbase steps in with Base, a Layer 2 blockchain solution intended to drive DeFi applications with greater levels of scalability and affordability. Built atop the Ethereum network, Base brings its solution to some of the most significant problems associated with decentralized finance, namely performance bottlenecks and excessive costs. It’s now the second most popular EVM network next to Tron. Base doesn't want to be just another layer in the blockchain ecosystem; it wants to be a versatile platform capable of hosting a wide variety of financial services, gaming apps, and even NFT marketplaces.
Key features of Base
Low-cost transactions
Base is designed to reduce transaction costs, often keeping them under one cent per transaction. Compared to the normal fees with Ethereum, this is a big deal and makes this platform very appealing to users who want to frequently participate in DeFi. The latest estimation was 0.001992032 as Base’s gas fee.
High transaction throughput
Base can scale up to process up to 1429 transactions per second (TPS) theoretically speaking, in stark contrast to the 20 - 30 TPS possible with Ethereum Layer 1 alone. Such a high level of throughput, clearly, becomes very important for most DeFi activities that require fast processing during flash trading or highly volatile market conditions.
Optimistic rollup technology
Optimistic rollups, as introduced by Base, have been able to batch multiple transactions into one before submission to the Ethereum mainnet. After opBNB, they have second highest number of unique active wallets estimated at 3.05 M. This helps not only to reduce congestion but also to smoothen the process of transactions for a better user experience.
Developer friendly-environment
This makes Base fully compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), thus very easy for developers to port their existing dApps. This incentivizes further innovation within the ecosystem, as new financial services can be created by developers without major changes to the code. Base current has 463 Dapps on it vis-á-vis Polygon hosting over 2200 Dapps. Not to mention that Base was only launched in August 2023, so the progress they have made is quite remarkable.
Real world applications of Base
DeFi protocols
Base underpins such popular DeFi applications as Aave, Uniswap, and Compound. Those applications take advantage of increased liquidity and reduced transaction costs and, therefore, become available to a wider audience. Now users can easily use functions of lending, borrowing, or yielding farming.
Gaming integration
Base is positioning itself as a viable alternative to blockchain gaming. With this and partnerships with studios such as Animoca Brands, it really seems that Base helps create decentralized in-game economies where players have complete ownership of their assets and participate in a fair marketplace.
NFT marketplaces
This integration, like OpenSea on Base, empowers NFT trading efficiently and reduces transaction costs to be able to participate in the digital collectibles market.
Infrastructure support
It is not only confined to financial applications but also nurtures various infrastructural projects. Developers and users will be able to interact with decentralized apps smoothly using better data oracles and wallet services, opening up ways to a better user experience.
Increased customer engagement
The easy access to Base, being a part of the Coinbase services, eases the integration for users. Most users already familiar with the Coinbase platform find it very easy to transition into exploring possibilities offered through DeFi applications without the steep learning curves or fear of large losses due to high fees.
Larger ecosystem trends
As Base scales, it continues to cultivate community-driven governance. Involving users in decision-making processes ensures that not only does Base solve today's problems, but it will evolve with the community's needs. In addition, Base has been of strong interest to several projects serving the demand for functional scalability. Several major protocols have already been ported to Base, and this can be taken as a vote of confidence in its potential.
The future of DeFi on Base
More than just a technological solution, Base represents a holistic answer to the questions being posed to decentralized finance today. With its high speeds of transactions, low fees, and solution scalability, Base empowers both users and developers to explore new digital finance, gaming, and NFT frontiers.With an increasing list of partners and applications, Base stands as an example of what blockchain can do in terms of bringing about inclusive financial systems. By getting rid of inefficiencies and improving accessibility, Base is really helping reshape the face of DeFi.
