Some of the best meme coins on Coinbase’s layer 2 “Base” include Degen, Brett, Toshi, Normie, Mochi, Doginme, and Briun.
Written by: Anatol Antonovici | Updated May 6 2024
Reviewed by: Mike Martin
Fact checked by: Ryan Grace
Shortly after Coinbase launched their own layer 2 “Base”, meme coins on the network exploded. Here’s what people are buying.
Table of Contents
🍒 tasty takeaways
Base has emerged as the leading layer 2 platform in terms of active users, primarily attributed to the hype surrounding meme coins.
Over 90% of new meme coins on Base have vulnerabilities, while 17% are potentially scams.
Brett, Degen, and Toshi are the sole three meme coins on Base with market caps surpassing the $100 million milestone.
Summary
| Name | Details |
|---|---|
| Degen | Launched in January 2024; Second-largest market cap on Base at over $470 million. |
| Brett | Launched in February 2024; Currently the largest asset on Base with a market cap of over $600 million. |
| Toshi | Launched in August 2023; Third-largest meme coin by market cap with over $200 million. |
| Normie | Launched in March 2024; Aims to bring 1 billion new investors to the Base network. |
| Mochi | Launched in November 2023; Offers an on-chain Tamagotchi-style game. |
| Doginme | Launched in 2024; Largest canine-themed meme coin on Base. |
| Briun | Launched in 2024; First deflationary meme coin on Base, uses buybacks to burn tokens. |
What Is Base?
Base is a layer 2 chain that offers faster and cheaper Ethereum (ETH) transactions. Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US, developed the scaling solution.
Base is in the same league as Optimism (OP) and Arbitrum. It leverages optimistic rollup tech to settle Ethereum transactions outside the mainnet.
Meme Coins Drive Activity on Base
Since the beginning of 2024, the Base blockchain has experienced a rapid surge in network activity. Meme coins have been the main driving force of its growth.
DefiLlama data shows that the total value locked (TVL) on Base was a record $1.65 billion as of mid-April 2024, up from $440 million at the start of the year.
Source: DeFiLlama
The top two decentralized finance (DeFi) apps on Base by TVL are decentralized exchanges (DEXs): Aerodrome and Uniswap. This suggests that crypto investors are actively trading on the Base chain.
Data from DEXScreener shows that all of the top 20 coins by trading volume on Base are meme coins.
Due to the meme coin hype, Base has become the layer 2 network with the most active users, overcoming OP and Arbitrum.
Source: growthepie
7 Best Meme Coins on Base
Here are the top meme coins on Base:
1. Degen
- Name: Degen
- Token: DEGEN
- Q1 Performance: N/A
Degen launched in January 2024 as an ERC-20 standard token but eventually moved to Base. It is currently the second-largest meme coin by market cap on Base, with over $470 million.
The great thing about Degen is that it has some utility, as it rewards users of Farcaster, a decentralized social media network.
Degen comes from ‘degenerate,’ and the crypto slang refers to traders who engage in highly speculative trades. 🤓
2. Brett
- Name: Brett
- Token: BRETT
- Q1 Performance: +95%
With a market cap of over $600 million, Brett is currently the largest asset on Base.
The token has experienced a meteoric rise, as it was launched at the end of February 2024, managing to grow to $500 million in less than two months.
The meme coin is based on Brett, a character in Matt Furie’s ‘Boys’ Club’ comic where he is the best friend of Pepe, which inspired another meme coin icon.
It’s essentially the mascot of Base, both of which use the blue color.
3. Normie
- Name: Normie
- Token: NORMIE
- Q1 Performance: +192%
Normie launched in March 2024, and its goal is to attract regular people, normies like you and me, to the Base network. Its mission is to bring 1 billion new investors by promoting the meme culture, calling itself ‘the people’s coin.’
Source: Normie Base
4. Toshi
- Name: Toshi
- Token: TOSHI
- Q1 Performance: +350%
Toshi is the third-largest Base meme coin by with over $200 million in market cap. It is also amongst the oldest ones, being launched in August 2023.
Toshi is named after Coinbase CEO Briam Armstrong’s cat.
To promote its growth, the token is working on several features that will come soon, including:
- Multi-sender – a tool that enables developers to conduct airdrops, migrations, or presales.
- Token locker – a tool for developers to vest or lock team tokens.
- Liquidity locker – a solution for securing liquidity, offering proof of stability to the community.
- Swap – Toshi Swap facilitates the trading of tax tokens by applying taxes on buys.
- Token launcher – this tool simplifies the journey from token conception to deployment.
The token is associated with the NFToshis, a non-fungible token (NFT) collection on Base.
5. Mochi
- Name: Mochi
- Token: MOCHI
- Q1 Performance: +26.2%
Source: OpenSea
The Mochi project was launched in November 2023 and secured a grant from Coinbase.
An interesting feature is the Mochi Inspector Bot, a telegram bot that can provide info on any Base contract.
6. Doginme
- Name: Doginme
- Token: DOGINME
- Q1 Performance: +94%
The coin’s name is inspired by a quote from Farcaster founder Dan Romero. A user once asked him whether he owned any pets.
He responded:
“No, but I got that dog in me.”
7. Briun
- Name: Briun Armstrung
- Token: BRIUN
- Q1 Performance: N/A
While Brian Armstrong’s cats inspire Toshi and Mochi, Briun derives from his misspelled name.
It promotes itself as the first deflationary meme coin on Base. It uses Uniswap V3 fees to buy back tokens and burn them. Briun claims to have conducted 35 buybacks and burned over 5% of the total supply.
Why Is Base Flooded with Meme Coins?
Popular meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) on Bitcoin (BTC) are oversaturated markets that no longer achieve 100x growth. Ethereum-based meme coins like Shiba Inu (SHIB) and Pepe (PEPE) made waves last year.
However, the high gas fees and the risk of congestion on Ethereum prompted meme coin creators to consider cheaper and faster networks, such as Solana.
Base has emerged as a new hub for meme coins due to its fast and low-cost transactions. Meme coins also choose Base over OP or Arbitrum due to a large Coinbase community and developer support from Coinbase. This is why the crypto market is currently divided between Base and Solana meme coins.
New Base Meme Coins Risks
Crypto investors dreaming about becoming millionaires by getting exposure to Base meme coins should think twice.
A recent report from Cointelegraph found that 91% of the tokens launched at the end of March 2024 had vulnerabilities. Moreover, one in six Base meme coins of the tracked sample are scams. Presale rug pulls are a rising trend among meme coins.
Source: COINTELEGRAPH
It’s best to consider well-established meme coins with high trading volume and market cap to avoid scams.
FAQs
What are Base meme coins?
Base meme coins are tokens without significant utility on Base, a layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum.
What are the best Base chain meme coins?
Degen, Brett, Toshi, Mochi, and Normie are some of the best Base meme coins.
What are some unique aspects of the Base meme coin ecosystem?
Base is a product of Coinbase. Given that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong owns two pet cats, the Base ecosystem has gravitated towards cat-themed tokens. The blue color is another representative aspect.
Where can I buy meme coins on Base?
Base meme coins can be purchased on centralized exchanges that support them or DEXs like Aerodrome and Uniswap.
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Anatol Antonovici
6+ years of experience writing for crypto brands and blockchain firms, including Coindesk, Cointelegraph, Bitcoinist, CryptoPotato, Algorand, and OTCTrade.com