Macauley Peterson

This is a segment from the 0xResearch newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">subscribe</a>.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Focusing on EVM chains, the Flipside’s Onchain Users Report tracked both record growth and emerging challenges in maintaining engagement quality. Here are a few trends to watch in 2025.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Record user growth</h2>



Newly acquired users reached a record 19.4 million in October, with Base contributing 13.7m — “almost 8x the runner-up, Polygon,”​ the report notes. This explosive growth was attributed to Coinbase’s <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-safeguarding-crypto">vast user base</a> and Base’s focus on “trending sectors like <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/meme-coins">memecoin</a> trading and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/artificial-intelligence">onchain AI</a> via new initiatives like Based Agents.”​



An “acquired user” is defined as a user who has conducted at least two transactions in 2024​.



Ethereum also saw consistent user growth, averaging 1.56m new users monthly. <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/arbitrum">Arbitrum</a> peaked in May with 3.3m acquired users, fueled by GameFi and SocialFi​.



Bitcoin usership, however, remained relatively flat despite BTC reaching its historic <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/btc-new-all-time-high-100k">$100k milestone</a>. This reflects speculative activity rather than meaningful onboarding.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Superusers: Base and Polygon dominate</h2>



Flipside terms “superuser” as those who executed 100 or more transactions on a chain, at any point.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/base">Base</a> led the way here with 15.1m wallets executing 100+ transactions, 38% more than Ethereum’s 10.7m superusers. Meanwhile, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/polygon">Polygon</a> recorded 1.5m new superusers in 2024, underscoring its strength outside of DeFi. According to the report, “Polygon’s superuser activity also surpassed that of every other observed chain, with 867.7m monthly super-user transactions.”​



Ethereum retained its position as the DeFi hub with 10.9m DeFi-related superusers, more than Arbitrum and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/optimism">Optimism</a> combined.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Blast’s surge and sharp decline</h2>



Among newly launched chains, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/blast">Blast</a> made headlines with a record single-month peak of 134.9k acquired users in June. This was driven by its ability to incentivize “a wide range of gamified onchain activities.”



However, the chain experienced a significant user drop-off in Q4. Despite the evident exodus of points farmers from the chain, the report highlights Blast’s upside potential: “The remaining users are still active on multiple fronts, suggesting that the chain has the potential to outlive, and exceed, its initial hype.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Uniswap’s DeFi dominance</h2>



<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/uniswap">Uniswap</a> solidified its dominance, capturing 91.3% of DEX activity on Base and increasing its share on Ethereum by 27.72% compared to 2023. This points to a broader trend, “a ‘winner-takes-most’ DeFi market [that] disproportionately favors larger incumbent players with deeper liquidity and brand familiarity,” the authors said.



Meanwhile, LFJ (née Trader Joe) retained its lead on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/avalanche">Avalanche</a>, growing its market share by just over 6% from 2023, thanks to innovations like Auto-Pools.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">The challenge</h2>



While 2024 saw record user acquisition, Flipside emphasizes the need for quality engagement. As the report notes: “Behind the headlines of record user growth lies a deeper challenge: building ecosystems that create meaningful, lasting engagement, not just fleeting speculation.”



For instance, despite Base attracting massive numbers of users, the report underscores the “narrow range of onchain actions its new user base is currently engaged in,” such as simply gambling on a memecoin or two. It’s not clear whether apps can execute on the opportunity to redirect users toward deeper activities like DeFi.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-breakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. </li>
</ul>

0xResearch Newsletter

Base leads explosive growth: Flipside

Bessie Liu

Base, Coinbase&#8217;s layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution, did not acquire as many users as other chains did in 2023.



A recent report by Web3 analytics firm Flipside Crypto shows that in 2023, Base acquired a little under two million users.



When compared to layer-1 blockchains including Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana and Avalanche, which respectively saw 15.4 million, 10.7 million, 5.6 million and 2.5 million new users, Base’s adoption remains on the lower end.&nbsp;



This is similarly the case when compared to layer-2 chains, including Optimism, Arbitrum and Polygon, which saw 3.3 million, 7.3 million and 15.2 million acquired users in 2023, respectively.&nbsp;



Despite the low adoption rate, Carlos Mercado, a data scientist at Flipside Crypto, told Blockworks that it was important to remember that BASE is barely six months old.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-l2-base-mainnet">Coinbase layer-2 network Base now live on Ethereum mainnet</a>



Having only launched in August last year, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/base">Base</a>, a product of Coinbase, launched with widespread excitement and played an important role in validating the OP Superchain thesis.&nbsp;



“<a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/coinbase">Coinbase</a> started strong with both its on-chain summer initiative and identifying how to make USDC free to transfer via signatures on the Base <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/layer-2-2">layer-2</a>. Not to mention the frenzy of friend.tech and the BALD meme token,” Mercado said.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/friendtech-downturn-socialfi">Friend.tech sees record outflows as top user jumps ship</a>



This excitement quickly tapered off, in contrast to the rest of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the report noted. It is suggested that regulatory oversight over centralized exchanges may have negatively impacted the Base, even though Coinbase itself was not implicated.



Mercado adds that an additional two major speed humps could also have played a role in its sluggish growth near the end of 2023.



Firstly, DeFi on Base remains in its early days. According to DeFiLlama, the chain currently has a total value locked (<a href="https://defillama.com/chain/Base">TVL</a>) of under $450 million, a significant difference from <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/arbitrum">Arbitrum</a>, for example, which currently has a <a href="https://defillama.com/chain/Arbitrum">TVL</a> of over $3.5 billion.



“Arbitrum’s lead on <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/dexs">DEXs</a> and perpetuals has been difficult for even major layer-1’s to surmounts,” Mercado said.



Additionally, Mercado points out that there has been a resurgence of similarly low-cost layer-1 solutions, particularly the likes of <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/solana">Solana</a>.&nbsp;



This resurgence may have been more attractive to users interested in exploring the space, as it was likely that these networks already had an existing, robust ecosystem.&nbsp;



Despite these challenges, Mercado believes that Base still has the potential to substantially grow in 2024.&nbsp;



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/base">Coinbase wants to support ‘responsible DeFi development’ through Base</a>



“Being an OP-based chain, it had a headstart on NFT cultural growth — it actually beat ARB and OP and Avalanche in the number of NFT sales transactions in August, September, October and December,” Mercado said. “While their numbers declined month to month, we’re watching this sector as the market shifts.”



He notes that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-pessimism-base-security">additional integrations with Optimism</a>, including through shared sequencing and seamless bridging, will likely continue to ramp Base activity in the coming year.



Updated Jan. 25, 2024 at 2:30 pm ET: Updated headline.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-breakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. </li>
</ul>

Base

Base closed in on 2 million users in 2023: Report

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_6308df8376f7a" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Digital assets prime broker hires Wells Fargo’s former electronic trading sales head</li>
 <li>Crypto venture capital firm adds high-profile advisors</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Cowen Digital expanded its institutional sales team with pros joining from Blockchain.com and Coinbase.&nbsp;



The digital asset division of financial services firm Cowen brought aboard <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackie-rose-a28a2142/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jackie Rose</a> as director of institutional sales, it revealed Thursday. Rose was previously Blockchain.com’s head of institutional business development and also formerly worked at The Carlyle Group and JPMorgan as an associate and investment banking analyst, respectively. 



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chasecampbell24/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chase Campbell</a> is now Cowen Digital’s vice president of digital asset sales. Formerly an institutional sales associate at Coinbase, he supported traditional finance and crypto-native firms looking to trade and custody digital assets. 



TD Bank revealed earlier this month that it is <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/td-bank-buys-cowen-in-tradfi-push-with-crypto-twist/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">set to acquire Cowen for $1.3 billion</a>, though details about how it could seek to leverage Cowen’s digital assets unit remain unclear. 



Eric Rose, Cowen’s head of execution, said in a statement that Cowen Digital plans to continue expanding its team as part of its strategic build over the next five years.



Electric Capital added former SEC chairman Jay Clayton, ex-Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/pratitirc/">Pratiti Raychoudhury</a>, Meta’s head of research, as advisors.



The <a href="https://www.electriccapital.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">venture capital firm</a> recently announced $1 billion in capital to invest in early-stage Web3 companies and protocols with investment sizes ranging from $1m to $50m. 



“By bringing together experts in product design, the global financial system and regulation, Electric Capital founders are able to accelerate innovation and the adoption of Web3 tools,” the company said in a statement.



A former member of the institutional business development team at now-bankrupt Celsius Network is now head of lending solutions at Digital Prime Technologies.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtney-campbell-4124859/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Courtney Campbell</a> is set to lead the development of the company’s institutional lending solution initiative to be announced later this year, Digital Prime Technologies CEO James Runnels said in a statement. 



Before Celsius, she was a managing director for Credit Suisse’s prime services group. Prior to that, she was the Americas head of international securities lending and synthetics at Bank of America, where she worked for more than a decade.&nbsp;



Identity provider Okta added <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/emiliechoi/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Emilie Choi</a>, president and chief operating officer of Coinbase Global, to its board of directors.



Choi has worked at Coinbase since 2018 and has also served as a member of the board of directors for ZipRecruiter and others. Before Coinbase, she was LinkedIn Corporation’s head of corporate development from 2009 to 2018.



“It’s clear that identity is at the heart of every industry and every digital interaction,” Choi said. “I look forward to working with Okta as the company executes on its mission of freeing anyone to safely use any technology and creating a world where your identity belongs to you.”



Blockchain analytics company Flipside Crypto hired <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/daphnekwon/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Daphne Kwon</a> to lead its DAO initiatives.



Kwon joins Flipside Crypto from media conglomerate Meredith Corporation, where she was chief strategy officer. She has also worked as president and chief operating officer of Betaworks Studios, and has held chief financial officer and business development roles at brands such as Disney and Oxygen Media.&nbsp;



&#8220;We&#8217;ll see the emergence of new business models with truly decentralized governance and investment structures that release the power of community passion and expertise — many of which promise to tackle some of the biggest opportunities in global finance, creator economies, healthcare and environmental issues,” Kwon said in a statement.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">In case you missed it</h3>



Digital assets prime brokerage <a href="https://www.floating.group/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Floating Point Group</a> nabbed <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-eliades-38a8978/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Peter Eliades</a> — who last headed electronic trading sales for Wells Fargo — to oversee business development in the US and throughout Asia Pacific, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-prime-brokerage-enlists-former-wells-fargo-jpmorgan-exec/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks reported</a> Wednesday. 



Eliades was a vice president at Lehman Brothers in 2001 before becoming a managing director at Bear Stearns &amp; Co. about four years later. He went on to work for JPMorgan as head of Americas trading.



<a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/new-web3-head-at-digital-bank-cogni-braces-for-more-regulation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Digital bank Cogni recently brought aboard</a> former registered commodity trading advisor <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/simongrunfeld/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Simon Grunfeld</a> to lead its Web3 initiatives. 



The executive has previously worked for blockchain-as-a-service platform SIMBA Chain, as well as for digital collectibles marketplace VeVe. He also founded white-label platform Ibinex to help enterprises develop crypto exchanges.



Alameda Research co-CEO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-trabucco-79215263/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sam Trabucco</a> revealed Wednesday <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/top-alameda-exec-steps-down/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">he is stepping down</a> from his role at the crypto quantitative trading firm and liquidity provider. He has not yet decided on a new destination, he said in a series of tweets. 



Caroline Ellison is now sole CEO of the company, an Alameda spokesperson told Blockworks.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-breakdown">The Breakdown</a>: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.</li>



<li><a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/0xresearch">0xResearch</a>: Alpha in your inbox. Think like an analyst. </li>
</ul>