In the past we’ve shared how due to blockchain continuing to be a tribal space it is important that in order to grow and expand our reach we need to get exposure to different blockchain ecosystems. But with the number of L1/L2s continuing to increase on an almost daily basis how do you decide where to invest your time and energy?

The Ethereum ecosystem continues to be the dominant network or more accurately with the growing number of layer two solutions a network of networks. With the potential arrival of ETH ETFs looming it is somewhere we feel is vital to gain exposure. Ethereum itself, while pioneering in terms of smart contract development does pose several challenges that we would prefer to avoid inflicting on our users. Mainly the high gas fees make transacting prohibitive and in many cases out of reach for the average user.

While many emerging Layer 1 solutions are highly performant with low transaction fees, they often remain siloed ecosystems. Ethereum Layer 2 solutions, however, offer increased transaction speeds and substantially lower gas fees. Being EMV-compatible, they provide the added convenience of not requiring new wallets and accounts, reducing friction for onboarding users within the EVM. Additionally, building within the EVM allows for easy bridging and migrating of assets between chains, and applications developed here are easily used elsewhere with minimal changes.

With so many L2 offerings, we thought it would be helpful to share our thinking on why we choose to build on Base.

Attention

Like it or not, like nearly everything else in the modern world, crypto is an attention economy. While we want to be careful not to blindly follow the hype, Base is currently garnering significant attention from builders and investors alike. We spoke with numerous attendees at leading blockchain conferences over the past six months to understand what people were excited about. The answer we got was consistently “Base”

But as valuable as first hand information is, in keeping with the blockchain ethos of “don’t trust, verify.” Looking at key on chain metrics such as TVL (Total value locked) there has been an explosion of

A diverse ecosystem

Blockchains today serve many purposes, from the tokenization of real world assets and onboarding of legacy financial institutions to the degen plays of meme coins. While some community groups consider the more retail focused degen culture as simply a passing fad it is important to understand these are also the core early adopters who have embraced the technology. Base as a leading L2 appeals to both the web3 degen without compromising its professional standing that will see it as an ideal choice by Wall St and Silicon Valley.

Based culture

Base has an incredibly strong community of builders and one only has to look at places like Warpcast to see that the pace of innovation is next level. Summed up by the words “build more, talk less” this thriving ecosystem is made up of doers. This makes for an inspiring place to build and release products and the types of people who resonate with this ethos are the types of people we want to attract into the Shufl Labs family.

The on-chain philosophy of Base as defined in their current “on chain summer” movement appeals to us from a philosophical standpoint and aligns with our beliefs in decentralization and verifiable ownership.

Charismatic Leaders

Crypto loves a strong figurehead. Whether it is Etherum’s Vitalik Buterin (check spelling) or Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson, every chain needs a visionary that can inspire a community and command the narrative. Jesse Pollak has shown that he has both the technical and personal skills to inspire and lead. He is active across social media and has a strong presence that is felt within the community.

Coinbase

While it feels that the regulatory landscape is beginning to come more into focus, there is still a great deal of uncertainty, particularly in the US. Coinbase as a publicly traded company is uniquely positioned as the most credible and compliant crypto company globally today. This gives us a builder’s greater confidence in its long term stability and helps reduce the likelihood of disruption and uncertainty that SEC scrutiny could bring.

They dont have a token

Contrary to popular thinking within crypto, not everything or everyone needs its own token. Many new L1s/L2s need to create a token so that they can fund their early development through token sales. With Coin Bases backing this wasn’t necessary for the launch of Base. Having the chain transact using Eth as its native gas token also makes it easier for users to bridge assets to and from the chain.

With NFTs viewed through the lens of being trophy assets, the ultimate success of a project is often more at the hands of the blockchain foundation driving the underlying token price than the projects themselves. Not having a native token also means that the best way to get exposure to Base is to support the projects that are being built there. As we work to establish a legitimate blue chip NFT collection on BASE we feel this will be a significant advantage.

ETH ETF

This event has the potential to be a significant catalyst for the growth of the broader EVM ecosystem. We have seen the impact that the Bitcoin ETF has had in terms of bringing new investors into the market and it is anticipated that any ETF that allowed direct exposure to Etherum would have a similar impact.

Base Smart Wallet
The Coinbase Smart Wallet is a user-friendly wallet integrated directly into browsers, eliminating the need for extensions or external wallet applications. It uses passkeys instead of seed phrases for enhanced security and simplified onboarding. Users can access Coinbase balances directly, enabling easier transactions and gasless experiences. With huge numbers of users continuing to custody their crypto through Coinbase, the release of the smart wallet will be a significant catalyst to bring users on chain and allow them to interact with dApps for the first time.

Summary
Shufl Labs identified Base as a rapidly growing ecosystem as confirmed through on-chain metrics, making it a hot spot for builders and investors. Base’s ecosystem is versatile, appealing to both retail users and institutional players and has a strong culture of innovation. Coinbase’s regulatory stability adds trust and greater confidence in its long term viability. Both the user-friendly Coinbase Smart Wallet and potential for an Ethereum ETF will act as significant catalysts we believe will accelerate the growth of this already rapidly expanding ecosystem.