Coinbase’s layer-2 solution, Base, recently flexed its scalability muscle, briefly reaching a peak transaction throughput that brought it shoulder-to-shoulder with one of the fastest blockchains in the game—Solana. While the burst was short-lived, it raised eyebrows across the crypto community as Base nearly clocked 1,000 transactions per second (TPS) during a high-traffic moment tied to a token launch.
The surge happened on May 29, during a launch event hosted on Virtuals, a platform building AI-driven digital agents. Jesse Pollak, the creator and lead behind Base, took to X (formerly Twitter) to share that the network momentarily reached an impressive 959 TPS. According to analytics provider Chainspect, Base’s theoretical maximum is around 1,429 TPS, although in everyday use, it usually operates at a far more modest rate.
Real-world performance paints a different picture. On an average day, Base processes about 137–156 TPS, as reported by Basescan and Chainspect, making the spike more of a rare showcase than the norm. These transaction bursts tend to be tied to short-term events—such as memecoin launches or viral platform activations—rather than sustained usage. Still, the spike illustrated just how much potential Base has under the hood, especially when compared to more established blockchains like Solana.
Speaking of Solana, the layer-1 chain continues to maintain consistent high throughput, regularly handling over 1,000 TPS. Solscan pegs its current “true TPS” at around 1,029, nearly identical to Chainspect’s 1,039 estimate. Solana’s TPS counts exclude vote transactions, offering a more accurate look at user-driven activity.
The catalyst for Base’s sudden performance boost was the token debut of Solace, a project on Virtuals that bills itself as an “emotionally intelligent, voice-native AI companion.” According to data from DeFiLlama, the launch generated over $60,000 in transaction fees on Base on May 28—massively outpacing Solana, which saw just $4,000 in fees related to the same protocol. This disparity hints at a growing interest in using Base for novel token-based launches and AI-driven platforms.
Even with the activity spike, Base remains a low-cost environment. Data from Dune Analytics shows that average fees during the surge hovered around just $0.04, maintaining its position as a cost-effective option for developers and users alike.
In terms of total value locked (TVL), Base has now emerged as the leading rollup-based layer-2 network, with over $15.3 billion in value locked, according to L2Beat. It has leapfrogged past both Arbitrum One and the OP Mainnet, grabbing nearly 34% of the layer-2 market share.
However, when zooming out to DeFi across all blockchains, Solana still leads Base by a considerable margin. Solana holds around $9 billion in TVL, despite being 18% down from its January high of $11 billion—a peak fueled largely by memecoin hype. In comparison, Base has about $3.75 billion locked in DeFi protocols, which is near its all-time high and suggests steady growth.
Of course, Ethereum remains the dominant force in DeFi, boasting nearly $63 billion in total value locked. But its relatively lower transaction throughput and high fees have left the door open for newer, more nimble players like Base and Solana to carve out niches.
While Base still has a way to go before it can consistently rival Solana’s speed and adoption, its recent performance suggests it’s not just a scaling solution—it’s becoming a serious contender in its own right. As more innovative projects continue to launch on Base, especially those in emerging areas like AI and memecoins, the network may find itself pushing past its own theoretical limits more often than expected.
