Solana and Base are two different levels of Memecoins. Solana has established a diverse and thriving ecosystem through technological advancements, airdrops, and community support, while Base is more focused on cryptocurrency users. Although Base has a unique Memecoin community, the scope of its themes may limit its success as a major Memecoin hub.
Ethereum still remains the most dominant Memecoin community, but Solana has gained momentum and a more prominent narrative in this cycle. With the development of the Memecoin field, it will be interesting to see if Base can cultivate an outstanding Memecoin that sets it apart within and outside the Ethereum ecosystem.
Original Title: Can Base Challenge Solana’s Memecoin Dominance?
Original Author: David C
Original Source: bankless
Translation: Kate, Mars Finance
Solana dominates the Memecoin field… for now.
So far, Solana’s comeback has been the story of this cycle, with the network rising on the back of technological advancements, lucrative airdrops, and support for notable Memecoins.
Meme coins have transitioned from being a frivolous, short-lived asset class to a forward-looking alternative to tokens with low liquidity and high FDV, which do not have enough retail upside.
Today, most Meme coin activity is happening on Solana, although activity is continuing to migrate to ETH L2s like Arbitrum and Base. Base has been particularly lively recently. While the Coinbase-incubated L2 does have the potential to become a Memecoin hub, Solana’s activity continues to dominate and stay within its ecosystem. Can Base compete with Solana on the Meme coin stage?
In this article, we will examine the current state of these platforms, their capital flows, and major projects to assess why Solana has become the capital of Memecoins and how Base compares to it.
Solana Memecoin Scene
A key factor in Solana’s rise as the darling of this cycle has been its Memecoin activity.
Driven by the surge in internal funding from airdrops like Jito, Jupiter, Kamino, Parcl, and Tensor, the market cap of Memecoins reached $1 billion in just one week, a remarkable achievement and a great marketing campaign, and the TVL of the chain has exceeded $4.8 billion.
Much of Solana’s narrative momentum can be attributed to the Meme coin frenzy, which is evident in the activity on the popular Meme coin launcher pump.fun, where on some days it accounted for 83% of all tokens launched, surpassing Solana even in 24-hour revenue. However, this success would not have been possible without such a strong Meme coin arena on the network, which includes major character tokens like WIF, BONK, and BODEN.
– Dogwifhat (Ticker: WIF; Market Cap: $3.3 billion) is an adorable Shiba Inu wearing a knitted hat that has become Solana’s mascot due to its memorability, widespread promotion by Crypto Twitter personalities, and the loyalty it has garnered as your token climbed from a market cap of $10,000 to billions of dollars.
– Jeo Boden (Ticker: Boden; Market Cap: $194 million), featuring U.S. President Joe Biden, sparked a political storm and claimed Solana as home. It brought a 1000x return in its first week, undoubtedly fueled by the SOL Meme coin scene.
– Bonk (Ticker: Bonk; Market Cap: $2.65 billion) is the OG Meme coin on Solana. It is a Shiba Inu from December 2022 that had an incredible price run last fall and kicked off the Meme frenzy on the chain.
In summary, Solana not only has the most famous Meme coins of this cycle but also a range of character tokens, from dogs and cats to politicians.
Base Memecoin Scene
Base has quickly risen to become one of the top Ethereum L2s, and its Memecoin ecosystem has helped it gain a reputation as consumer-friendly.
Projects like DEGEN and friend.tech have brought sustained activity to the network and established a culture of Base as a social hub. That being said, while the network’s TVL experienced an epic rebound in March, it has seemed stagnant in recent weeks. While Base’s TVL is far behind Solana’s, its daily trading volume is impressive. Last week, the network reached a record-breaking daily trading volume of $854 million.
Blue represents TVL, green represents trading volume
While the BALD rug in 2023 may have left a sour taste for Meme coin gamblers, the ecosystem has developed more momentum in the recent Meme coin cycle, although it is still the Wild West.
– Brett (Ticker: BRETT; Market Cap: $440 million) is a token inspired by a character from Matt Furie’s comic “Boy’s Club,” featuring Pepe creator Brian Armstrong. While the niche might be good, it can also reduce the audience and, therefore, the demand for the token.
– Toshi the Cat (Ticker: TOSHI; Market Cap: $146 million), named after Brian Armstrong’s cat and Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, is Base’s leading pet-inspired Meme coin.
https://x.com/BasedBrett/status/1785151748358979891
Traders show loyalty to the chain that helps them accumulate wealth. While SOL traders can buy tokens with a small fraction of its current market cap, Base still lacks a native token due to regulatory scrutiny, and if/when it does have one, it can be assumed that retail traders will have relatively little available upside. Unlike the Solana community, Base has hardly ever had milestone ecosystem airdrops.
While Base has a unique Meme coin community, it does not have broader appeal outside ecosystems like Solana. Instead, it caters more to the needs of native cryptocurrency users. This uniqueness sets Base apart, but its narrow thematic range may limit its success as a major Meme hub.
While Base has been able to establish early Memes with its cheaper and faster transactions, the most powerful Memecoin community on Ethereum still primarily exists on the mainnet. Solana has gained momentum and a more prominent narrative in this cycle, and while Base remains one of the more active L2 ecosystems, it still has a lot of ground to make up in the Memecoin field.
Conclusion
When it comes to Memecoins, Solana and Base exist on different levels.
Solana has solidified its position through a diverse and thriving Memecoin ecosystem driven by a large number of airdrops and strong community support. In contrast, although Base’s growth has been impressive and it has received support from Coinbase, it has not reached the mainstream appeal and capital creation levels required by Memecoins in the same degen environment.
Solana’s continued growth, as seen from its TVL growth and daily trading volume, highlights its position on the center stage of this cycle. With the development of the Memecoin field, it will be interesting to see if Base can cultivate an outstanding Memecoin that sets it apart within and outside the Ethereum ecosystem.