Base Blockchain Attracts $68 Million in Ether Ahead of Official Launch
Coinbase-backed layer-2 blockchain Base has attracted millions in Ethereum (ETH) ahead of its official launch.
Over the weekend, Base witnessed more than $200 million in trading volumes and more transactions than established networks like Arbitrum.
Despite not being open to the public yet, traders have flocked to the blockchain in the hopes of racking in lucrative returns, particularly from meme coins.
For instance, amid the surge in meme coin BALD, over $68 million worth of Ether was bridged to Base in the matter of 48 hours, according to on-chain data.
Prior to the weekend, daily inflows were only around $500,000 to $700,000.
BALD, which is tradeable through the LeetSwap decentralized exchange (DEX) on Base, experienced a massive surge, skyrocketing by about 4,000,000% from its initial issuance to its peak price.
It witnessed over $100 million in trading volume within 24 hours.
This news quickly spread across social media, attracting numerous traders eager to capitalize on the opportunity for quick profits.
However, the token has since taken a hard hit, dropping by more than 78% compared to its all-time high.
The sharp drop came after a developer pulled all of the liquidity out of the BALD meme coin on Ethereum layer-2 network Base on Monday, an event referred to as rug pull in crypto.
While the lack of a functional two-way bridge did not deter traders from flocking to Base, it did create a breeding ground for exploitative practices.
Certain tokens, such as brian (BRIAN), toshi (TOSHI), and basedbot (BOT), which initially surged by thousands of percentage points, have fallen sharply since, leaving followers with minimal returns and struggling to find exit liquidity.
Moreover, opportunistic developers have taken advantage
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