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State of Base DeFi: Protocols, Wallets, and What the Data Shows

An in-depth look at Base blockchain's DeFi ecosystem in 2026: leading protocols, wallet activity trends, and what on-chain data reveals about where Base is heading.

By Ramaris Team • • 6 min read

Base has quietly become one of the most active DeFi ecosystems in crypto. Launched by Coinbase in 2023 as an Ethereum Layer 2, it’s grown from a handful of protocols to a full-featured DeFi landscape with significant daily volume, active wallet counts, and a growing community of builders and traders.

This article looks at where Base DeFi stands in early 2026 — the key protocols, what wallet activity patterns show, and what the data suggests about the ecosystem’s trajectory.

Base by the Numbers

Since launch, Base has consistently grown across the metrics that matter for a DeFi ecosystem:

Daily active addresses have trended upward, with Base regularly ranking among the top L2s by unique addresses interacting with smart contracts.

DEX volume on Base has grown substantially. Aerodrome Finance, the dominant DEX, processes the majority of swap volume, but a healthy set of alternatives (BaseSwap, SwapBased, and others) contribute to a competitive marketplace.

Total Value Locked (TVL) has climbed as protocols mature and users gain confidence in the network’s security and performance. Base benefits from Coinbase’s brand trust, which lowers the perceived risk for users depositing funds into Base DeFi protocols.

Transaction fees remain low — typically a fraction of a cent per transaction. This makes Base practical for smaller traders and frequent trading strategies that would be uneconomical on Ethereum mainnet.

Key Protocols on Base

Aerodrome Finance

Aerodrome is Base’s dominant DEX, built on the Velodrome model. It operates as a central liquidity hub with a ve(3,3) tokenomics model that incentivizes liquidity providers. For an in-depth look at how top LPs operate on Aerodrome, see Tracking Aerodrome Activity: What Top LPs Are Doing on Base.

What makes Aerodrome particularly notable:

  • Concentrated liquidity pools allow LPs to allocate capital more efficiently
  • AERO token emissions direct liquidity to the pools the community values most
  • Vote-locking mechanism creates a governance layer where LPs and protocols compete for emissions

For wallet trackers, Aerodrome is significant because the most sophisticated DeFi users on Base are often active LPs or voters on the platform. Tracking wallets that manage large Aerodrome positions can surface insights about where informed capital sees opportunity.

Seamless Protocol

Seamless is Base’s native lending and borrowing protocol. Users can deposit collateral and borrow against it, or lend assets to earn yield.

The wallet activity around Seamless tells a different story than DEX activity. Wallets that actively manage lending positions — adjusting collateral ratios, moving between lending pools, timing their borrows — demonstrate a different kind of sophistication.

Other Notable Protocols

  • Morpho and other lending aggregators that optimize yield across Base lending markets
  • Uniswap V3 deployments on Base providing additional DEX liquidity
  • Perpetual DEXs for leveraged trading on Base

The protocol diversity means that skilled wallets on Base aren’t all doing the same thing. Some specialize in DEX trading, others in yield farming, others in lending optimization. This variety makes wallet tracking on Base particularly interesting — you can build strategies targeting specific types of DeFi activity.

What Wallet Activity Shows

Analyzing wallet behavior on Base reveals several patterns:

Growing Sophistication

Early Base wallets were primarily performing simple swaps. As the ecosystem matured, on-chain behavior has become more complex: multi-step trades involving swaps + LP additions, leveraged positions through lending protocols, and cross-protocol strategies that combine multiple DeFi primitives.

This sophistication means the gap between informed and uninformed wallets is widening. Tracking wallets that navigate this complexity successfully becomes more valuable over time.

Protocol Rotation

Wallet data shows clear rotation patterns. Capital moves between protocols based on incentive programs, yield opportunities, and new protocol launches. Wallets that consistently identify these rotations early tend to be among the top performers.

On Ramaris, you can spot these rotation patterns by tracking wallets across their full activity profile, not just their DEX trades. When a cluster of tracked wallets starts interacting with a new protocol, that’s a signal worth investigating.

Concentration and Dispersion

Some periods show wallet activity concentrating on a few tokens or protocols. Other periods show broader dispersion. Concentrated periods often align with specific opportunities (new token launches, protocol incentive campaigns). Dispersion periods suggest a more mature, stable market.

Wallet Lifecycle

New wallets on Base tend to follow a predictable pattern:

  1. Bridge and explore: Transfer funds from Ethereum or Coinbase, make initial swaps
  2. Find a niche: Gravitate toward specific protocols or trading styles
  3. Optimize: Refine their approach based on results
  4. Scale or leave: Successful wallets increase position sizes; unsuccessful ones go dormant

Understanding where a wallet is in this lifecycle helps you assess whether their current behavior is a reliable signal or early experimentation.

The Coinbase Effect

Base’s relationship with Coinbase creates dynamics unique to this ecosystem:

Onboarding pipeline. Coinbase users can bridge to Base with minimal friction, creating a steady stream of new wallets entering the ecosystem. This means Base consistently has new participants — some experienced DeFi users, others complete beginners.

Institutional adjacency. Coinbase’s regulatory compliance and institutional relationships mean that some wallets on Base may represent more sophisticated capital than typical retail DeFi.

Smart Wallet adoption. Coinbase Smart Wallet is account-abstraction native, which changes how some users interact with Base. Gasless transactions and batched operations create different on-chain patterns that wallet trackers need to account for.

What This Means for Wallet Tracking

The state of Base DeFi creates a favorable environment for wallet tracking:

  1. Active ecosystem: Enough volume and variety for skilled wallets to demonstrate real edge
  2. Discoverable alpha: The ecosystem is large enough to be interesting but small enough that notable wallets are identifiable
  3. Clean data: Low fees mean more frequent trades, giving you more data points per wallet
  4. Protocol diversity: Different types of skill to track (DEX trading, LP management, lending optimization)

If you’re interested in tracking wallets on Base, the current moment is well-suited for building your watchlists and strategies. The ecosystem is established enough for data to be meaningful, but still growing, which means new opportunities and new skilled wallets are emerging regularly.

Getting Started

To explore Base wallet activity yourself:

For informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Past wallet activity does not indicate future results. Protocol and ecosystem data reflects publicly available information as of February 2026.