Coinbase's new Base blockchain, which operates as a layer-2 network atop Ethereum, has gained significant traction with its application Friend.tech attracting over 100,000 users and generating $25 million in fees, pushing its total value locked past $200 million and its transactions per second above Ethereum and rival layer-2 projects Arbitrum and Optimism.
Base, the Layer 2 scaling solution from Coinbase, has experienced a significant increase in transactions per second (TPS) due to the trend called Friend.tech, according to CEO Brian Armstrong. Base's TPS has exceeded that of Ethereum, with a TPS value up by over 75% in the past week, making it a major L2 protocol to watch out for.
Crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen believes that Ethereum (ETH) needs to drop further before it can reach new all-time highs, as it must first align with its fair-value logarithmic regression trendline, creating an attractive accumulation range between $400 and $600.
The average transaction fee on the Bitcoin network has dropped by over 15% due to a decrease in daily transactions, while the price of BTC remains stagnant at around $26,000.
The decentralized social network Friend.tech has experienced a significant decline in metrics such as activity, inflows, and volume, leading critics to declare it "dead" less than three weeks after its launch. The platform, which allows users to buy and sell "keys" for private messaging, has seen a drop in daily fees, transactions, buyers, sellers, and inflows, prompting concerns about its future.
Ethereum's price has been declining, leading to concerns among investors, but there are two factors to consider: a drop in user activity and transaction volume on the Ethereum blockchain, which may be due to users migrating to faster and cheaper Layer 2 blockchains, and selling by Ethereum "whales" and insiders, including co-founder Vitalik Buterin, which could be attributed to profit-taking and security measures rather than a lack of confidence in Ethereum's future prospects. Despite the market's overreaction, Ethereum remains a strong investment with its dominance in various business segments and ongoing development plans.
Ethereum transaction fees have dropped to their lowest levels since November 2022, as on-chain activity from NFT sales, meme coin trading, and Telegram bots decreases, causing Ethereum to turn inflationary, with its supply increasing and daily active addresses and transactions remaining relatively stagnant.
Bitcoin and the overall digital asset market have seen a significant decline, with Bitcoin dropping to its lowest price in three months at $25,048, attributed to failed crypto exchange FTX seeking approval to liquidate $3.4 billion in various digital assets.
Coinbase's layer 2 blockchain, Base, has experienced a surge in daily transactions, reaching an all-time high, with the increase mainly driven by a decentralized social network platform called Friend.tech.
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) experienced stable prices over the week, while Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Toncoin (TON) saw notable price increases, and Stellar (XLM) suffered a decrease; Sony is developing a blockchain network in collaboration with Startale Labs, PayPal launched crypto to USD off-ramps, and Deutsche Bank partnered with Taurus for custody and tokenization services.
Ether (ETH) has shifted from being deflationary to inflationary due to decreasing network activity on Ethereum, which could negatively impact the token's price, according to analysts. The decline in network fees and the adoption of layer 2 networks have contributed to the increase in ETH supply, reversing its previous deflationary trend. This has raised concerns among crypto observers who predict bearish developments for ETH, including a potential drop to as low as $1,000.
