The Base Layer-2 network is now live for trading on Matcha DEX. Search and trade tokens on Base chain in seconds to take part in one of the fastest-growing L2 ecosystems!
Base is now live for trading on Matcha. Connect your wallet and switch to Base to swap tokens now!
Following the launch of Base for everyone earlier in August, we’re pleased to announce that you can now trade Base network tokens on Matcha. Now you can stay focused on your trade while switching seamlessly across 9 networks!
When you trade on Base using Matcha, you will always find an efficient route using aggregated liquidity from multiple sources, so you can lock in the best price for your trades. Thanks to the 0x Swap API, Matcha can fetch the best offers even when liquidity is fragmented.
How we added Base to Matcha
Matcha is one of the first DEX aggregators to launch support for Base mainnet, meaning you can now explore and trade all tokens deployed on the network thanks to our industry-leading APIs. Since decentralized exchange liquidity is still growing on the Base chain, it can be hard to find an efficient route for trades. The 0x Swap API solves this problem by aggregating liquidity across 4 DEX protocols and finding the most efficient path of execution to give you the best executed price.
A special commendation must go out to the Base team, who set a high bar in terms of developer support and documentation, and provided Base testnet access with enough lead time for us to resolve issues and smoothly roll out support. Matcha Engineering Manager Mathieu Welche commented:
“Bringing Base to Matcha was a smooth experience. The Base team gave us all the resources we needed for developers to keep up every step of the way. Once we had the network integrated with the 0x API, we opened trading across all tokens on Base token pairs in just 36 hours!”
What is Base?
Base is a Layer-2 (L2) EVM network incubated by Coinbase. It uses optimistic rollups to track the state of the Ethereum network and process transactions off-chain. As a Layer-2 solution it offers significantly lower gas fees while benefiting from the established security of Ethereum. Note that there was no native USDC stablecoin on Base as of August 2023, but rather a bridged version named USDbC. Native USDC issued by Circle on Base launched in September 2023.
Base is developed on top of OP Stack, an open-source development stack used by the popular L2 Optimism, using what’s known as an optimistic rollup to track onchain data. At launch, over 100 dApps had already been deployed on Base, and there are now at least 139 dApps live on Base, with a rapidly growing user base thanks to the strong reach of Coinbase.
What is Matcha?
Matcha is a DEX aggregator, built by 0x. With over 4 million tokens indexed across 9 blockchains, the decentralized exchange provides aggregated liquidity from +100 sources, and the most efficient trade execution through smart routing. Matcha has enabled over $62B and 3.5M+ trades as the first consumer-facing product by the 0x team.
Founded in 2017 by Will Warren and Amir Bandeali, the team has made significant technical contributions, including the NFT token standard (ERC721) and Wrapped Ether (WETH) and has raised $109M up to Series B from leading investors as Pantera Capital, Greylock, Coinbase and Jump.
Use Matcha DEX aggregator to swap tokens on Base
To get started on Base, you will first need to bridge some Ethereum to the Base chain. You can do this by going to the Base Bridge, connecting your wallet, and choosing how much to bridge. Then follow the steps below, which are also shown in this screen recording.
Once you have assets on Base network:
- Visit Matcha and switch to the Base network.
- Select the token you want to trade from the dropdown menu.
- Enter a token amount to trade.
- Select Review Order to lock in the fee and routing. Quotes will expire after 30 seconds.
- Click Place Order and finalize the trade in your wallet.
Matcha Auto is not currently available on Base. You can adjust your Max Slippage and Gas Fees using the settings menu in the top-right of the interface for more control over your trades.
What’s all the Onchain Summer excitement about?
Base was built by Coinbase as an accessible, low-cost Layer-2 for Ethereum that focuses on attracting developers and extending the onchain ecosystem and decentralized applications (dApps) to the next billion users. Coinbase’s reputation as an industry leader and its focus on providing high-quality development tools has attracted many developers to build on Base, with the opportunity to serve users in the Coinbase ecosystem.
As part of the Onchain Summer campaign, Base has also worked with global brands including Coca-Cola and Atari, as well as major NFT projects such as OpenSea and music rights marketplace AnotherBlock to let users experience onchain art, gaming, and music. In total, the campaign has seen over 50 million NFTs minted, delivering over 3 million in revenue from 213 thousand users.
Decentralized apps (dApps) on Base
One of the most exciting things about a new network launch are the apps (or dApps) that follow. The Base development team as well as products in the Coinbase ecosystem such as Coinbase Wallet have been proactive in making it easy for developers to join Base, leading to hundreds of new and established dApps launching on Base in parallel with the launch of the network. Let’s take a look at a handful of the more popular things happening on Base:
Friend.tech
Decentralized social media has been a major topic in the crypto space over the last couple of years, but few projects have created enough excitement or distinguished themselves enough to draw users from X (formerly Twitter) or Meta. Friend.tech seems to be off to a great start, however, thanks to a unique model where you can only read posts from accounts you buy a share in.
Whether the momentum will hold in the coming months is yet to be seen, but Friend.Tech has already given rise to new meta strategies for trading that will likely draw a loyal core audience.
BasePaint
A collaborative canvas that you can mint as an NFT on Base. Inspired by the long-standing Reddit community r/place, BasePaint is a place where anyone can open their browser and start adding pixels to a collaborative real-time canvas which draws a new theme each day. Once the canvas locks at the end of each session, you can mint it as an NFT on Base to own it in perpetuity. What’s more, anyone who contributed to the canvas receives a share of profits in true web3 style!
Rainbow wallet avatars
As part of onchain summer, popular mobile wallet Rainbow has come up with a novel take on decentralized IDs, in partnership with the web3 game AdWorld, by launching a set of customizable Rainbow NFT avatars with a full-featured character customizer and animator. Join the citizens of RainbowWorld and unlock cross-customization as your Rainbow citizen picks up special attributes from other projects like friend.tech and FWB. See Rainbow become “more than just a mobile wallet” - only on Base!
Base Camp
Get a soulbound (non-transferrable) .base domain name to use as your decentralized ID using Base Camp from Masa. While Masa is already active on other chains, their launch on Base means you’ll have a better chance of claiming your name, project or handle as a .base domain name.
Web3 Warriors
The first game launched on Base, Web3 Warriors was created in just 3 weeks by web 3 game developers ThirdWeb. Connect your wallet and step into a dungeon crawler complete with in-game token rewards and playable NFTs.
Check out all the apps and more running on Base using the official Base ecosystem page.
How Base compares to popular L2 networks
Layer-2 chains represent an opportunity to benefit from EVM-compatible environments, help scale Ethereum, and allow users to smoothly switch between their favorite networks and seek out value that would be otherwise uneconomical due to inefficiencies of onchain fees.
Since November 2022, Layer-2 networks have grown to represent a majority share in terms of user count on Matcha. The biggest is Arbitrum, with a 25.8% share, followed by Optimism at 22.1% and Polygon at 16.8%, while Ethereum sits just a bit higher at 18.4%. What’s interesting to note, however, is that despite seeing the larger share of users, these L2 solutions represent just a fraction of the value traded: 89% of volume is still transacted on Ethereum.
No Ethereum Layer-2 has had the same reach at launch that the Base chain benefits from, so it’s yet to be seen how much value can be captured, and whether Base will become a viable network for traders moving significant volume.
