Franklin Templeton, a trillion-dollar asset manager, has identified the emergence of what they call "Base Season" as SocialFi applications gain prominence, with Base leading the pack among Ethereum Layer 2 verticals. In a report released in May, Franklin Templeton expressed confidence in Base's ability to capture a significant portion of SocialFi activity and maintain its leadership position in the Ethereum L2 space.
According to data provided by Franklin Templeton, approximately 46% of SocialFi-related transactions are conducted on Base, a trend that has seen Base steadily gain market share from BNB Chain and Polygon in recent months. The asset manager attributed Coinbase's support as a pivotal factor in Base's journey to securing nearly half of the SocialFi market thus far.
Friend.tech, a prominent SocialFi app built on Base, enables creators to connect and monetize their content through mechanisms such as "key" shares or "tokenized follows." Franklin Templeton hailed Base's success in the SocialFi realm, deeming it a crucial vertical for the platform's sustained adoption and expansion in the foreseeable future.
While Base stands out as a leading player in the SocialFi space, other notable SocialFi blockchains and protocols include Theta Network, Decentralized Social, Fantasy.top, and Steem. Franklin Templeton emphasized the recent surge in memecoin popularity as a contributing factor to the heightened activity observed on the Base network.
Despite its impressive growth trajectory, Base's journey to success hasn't been without its milestones. It took the platform six months to surpass the $1 billion mark, but in less than three months thereafter, it surged from $1 billion to $5.4 billion in total locked value (TVL). Meanwhile, TVL figures for Arbitrum One and OP Mainnet have experienced declines over the past two months.
Coinbase officially launched Base in August last year, and according to L2BEAT data, the cryptocurrency exchange serves as the sole sequencer of Base, effectively giving it full control over the chain. However, Coinbase has expressed intentions to gradually decentralize Base over time, as the platform continues to be built on Optimism's OP stack, prioritizing security, cost-effectiveness, and developer-friendly features for Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible applications.
