🚀 Base Challenges Solana’s Dominance in Token Launches

[nihalsari]

Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum L2, is rapidly rising in the token launch scene—pushed by a boom in SocialFi activity led by apps like Zora and Farcaster.

Shift in Momentum

On July 16, Coinbase rebranded its wallet into the Base App, a social hub for creators.

The next day, 22,000+ tokens launched on Base.

By July 23–24, Zora on Base beat Solana launchpads like LetsBonk and Pump.fun, hitting 38,000+ token launches in one day.

🧠 But Is It All Just Hype?

Critics argue that:

Most Zora tokens lack liquidity or value.

Users are unknowingly entering markets with no real exit.

Social token creation may be vanity metrics over substance.

“Counting tokens is meaningless. Value is what matters.” — Brian Huang, Glider

🧩 Base’s Cultural Play vs Solana’s Ecosystem Depth

Base thrives on social virality and creator engagement.

Solana still leads in TPS, liquidity, DeFi maturity, and ecosystem activity.

Solana is rolling out Firedancer, aiming for 1M TPS, reinforcing its performance lead.

Even Ansem, the “Solana guy,” is exploring Zora—showing Base is grabbing attention.

🧪 What’s at Stake

Base is testing a new token model: content-driven, not finance-first.

But success depends on sustained use, real liquidity, and utility beyond novelty.

Without that, this could become another Friend.tech-style flash in the pan.

TL;DR

Base is booming on paper thanks to Zora and viral SocialFi — but Solana remains stronger in fundamentals. Whether Base can convert its cultural moment into a lasting ecosystem is the real test.

[jacson4]

The speed at which Base went from rebranding the wallet to becoming a SocialFi hotspot is impressive. The Zora and Farcaster synergy clearly struck a chord with creators, and it’s easy to see why the numbers are exploding. But the big question is sustainability — high token launch counts don’t mean much if liquidity and active engagement dry up. If Base can turn this cultural hype into a sticky creator economy where social tokens have real use cases, it could carve out a niche that’s hard for even Solana to replicate.

[Nahid10]

Solana’s fundamentals still give it a huge moat — TPS, liquidity depth, DeFi maturity, and now Firedancer on the horizon make it a beast for performance-driven builders. Base might be winning the cultural and viral race right now, but ecosystems survive long-term on actual transaction utility and reliable infrastructure. The interesting part is that the two aren’t necessarily in direct competition — Base could become the go-to for social and cultural tokenization, while Solana remains the powerhouse for high-performance DeFi and NFT platforms. The real win would be if both carve out complementary strengths instead of fighting for the same lane.

[Maxwell]

Base is proving that culture and virality can drive adoption fast — but without liquidity and utility, these token counts risk being empty calories. The long game will be about retention, not hype

[rafihasan]

Interesting to see Base take the ‘social-first’ route while Solana doubles down on performance and DeFi depth. Two very different bets on what the next wave of users will care about.

[Nahiar806]

Friend.tech showed us what happens when the hype burns faster than the utility. If Base can turn this SocialFi burst into sustainable value, it could be a real contender — if not, it’s just another spike on the chart