Trillion-dollar asset manager Franklin Templeton suggests that the rise of Social Finance (SocialFi) apps has ushered in the “Base Season,” with Base emerging as a leader among other Ethereum layer 2 platforms in this vertical.
According to a report by Franklin Templeton in May, Base is positioning itself well to capture a significant portion of SocialFi activity and maintain its leadership in the Ethereum L2 sector. The report also states that about 46% of SocialFi transactions are conducted on Base, which has been gaining market share at the expense of BNB Chain and Polygon in recent months.
Franklin Templeton credits Coinbase’s support as a crucial factor in Base’s success, noting that it has played a key role in helping the platform capture nearly half of the SocialFi market share so far. A notable SocialFi application built on Base is Friend.tech, which allows content creators to monetize their work through “key” shares or “tokenized attention.” Franklin Templeton describes Base’s achievements in the world of SocialFi as a “homerun” and predicts that it will continue to be a key player in this vertical.
Apart from Base, other popular SocialFi blockchains and protocols mentioned by Franklin Templeton include Theta Network, Decentralized Social, Fantasy.top, and Steem. The recent craze around memecoins is also cited as a contributing factor to Base’s increased network activity.
In terms of total value locked (TVL), Base is currently the third largest Ethereum layer 2 network. It has reached a TVL of $5.4 billion, trailing behind Arbitrum One with $15.9 billion and OP Mainnet with $6.90 billion, according to L2BEAT. Notably, Base has experienced rapid growth, going from $1 billion to $5.4 billion in less than three months, while the TVLs of Arbitrum One and OP Mainnet have declined in the past two months.
Base was officially launched by Coinbase in August last year. As the sole sequencer of Base, Coinbase has full control over the chain. However, Coinbase plans to gradually decentralize Base over time. The platform was built using Optimism’s OP stack and aims to provide a secure, cost-efficient, and developer-friendly environment for Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible applications.
In conclusion, Franklin Templeton’s report highlights Base’s strong position in the emerging field of SocialFi and predicts continued growth and adoption for the platform.