Base Settled About $565 Billion in Stablecoins in June, Challenging Ethereum's Grip on Crypto Payments

Base, the Ethereum layer-2 network built by the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, moved about $565 billion in stablecoin transaction volume in June, narrowly ahead of the roughly $562 billion recorded on the Ethereum mainnet, according to CryptoSlate's reading of adjusted on-chain data. The gap between the two networks was only about $3 billion, so Base's lead is slim rather than decisive.

Together the two chains handled a large portion of the roughly $1.79 trillion in total adjusted stablecoin volume tracked for the month. Dollar-pegged tokens dominated the flow, with USD Coin (USDC) making up close to two-thirds and Tether (USDT) accounting for most of the remainder.

Because Base posts its transactions back to Ethereum, Ethereum's base layer still provides final settlement. What shifts is where the transfer itself takes place, and with it the sequencer fees and the routing between wallets and merchants that Coinbase, as the network's operator, is positioned to collect. CryptoSlate presented the figure as evidence that Ethereum could lose its position as the default venue for stablecoin payments, a conclusion the current data supports only at the margin.