Coinbase’s layer 2 blockchain, Base, which launched in early August, has seen its daily transactions hit an all-time high, according to data from IntoTheBlock.

Base saw 1.88 million transactions on Thursday, higher than layer 2 rivals Arbitrum and Optimism combined, which saw 780,000 and 370,000, respectively.

“Interestingly, it is not decentralized finance (DeFi) applications nor non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces driving the surge in Base's activity. Instead, a significant portion of usage can be attributed to a new social application, FriendTech,” said Lucas Outumuro, head of research at IntoTheBlock.

Decentralized social network platform Friend.tech is built on Base and calls itself “the marketplace for your friends.” The platform saw increased usage over the last week, with its daily transactions also reaching an all-time high. Friend.tech’s transactions reached 529,000, according to data from IntoTheBlock. The increase was partly driven by users aiming to get points that will later be used for an airdrop, according to IntoTheBlock.

In early August, when Friend.tech launched, Base also witnessed a surge in activity as its launch drove daily active users to a record high. Base also averaged a record high of 15.88 transactions per second, surpassing Ethereum and other rival layer 2 blockchains such as Arbitrum and Optimism in August. Much of the increased activity was attributed to Friends.Tech.

Notably, transactions on Friend.tech saw a significant decline following its initial surge, declining from its 525,000 peak in early August to 51,000 at the end of August. Base’s daily transactions also witnessed a lull over the same time period.

IntoTheBlock attributes the recent uptick in activity on Base to Ethereum’s layer 2 ecosystems evolving with players becoming “more specialized in their own niche.” “Base has quickly become the L2 with the most unique addresses and transactions, fueled by Coinbase’s wide reach, making it a strong candidate for social applications like FriendTech to thrive,” said IntoTheBlock.

Friend.tech also didn't drive up congestion and fees on Ethereum the way frenzies have in the past – which some analysts pointed to being possibly a sign that the blockchain's efforts to scale by fostering supplemental “layer-2” networks, like Coinbase's new Base, are bearing fruit.

Coinbase Base layer 2

Lyllah Ledesma

Lyllah Ledesma is a CoinDesk Markets reporter currently based in Europe. She holds a master's degree from New York University in Business and Economics and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of East Anglia. Lyllah holds bitcoin, ether and small amounts of other crypto assets.