Base DeFi Activity Reaches New Highs
Base recorded several major ecosystem milestones last week, led by a new all-time high in DeFi activity. The network’s DeFi total value locked (TVL) reached $6.2 billion, according to the weekly update supplied for this article.
TVL measures the value of assets deposited across decentralized finance applications. A higher TVL can reflect greater capital deployed across lending, liquidity and other onchain financial applications, although it does not by itself indicate how that capital is being used.
The week also highlighted the growing role of tokenized traditional assets on Base. Coinbase Tokenized Stocks reached a daily volume record of $71 million, while Aero reportedly crossed $1 billion in tokenized-stock volume on Base within one month.
Base has been actively encouraging development around tokenized equities. In an official September announcement, Base described Coinbase Tokenized Stocks as onchain equities available to eligible non-U.S. users, while calling on developers to build new financial applications around the assets.
Aave V4 Brings Tokenized Stocks Into Onchain Lending
One of the week's most significant launches came from Aave. Aave V4 went live on Base with support for Coinbase Tokenized Stocks, allowing eligible users to deposit selected tokenized equities as collateral and borrow USDC.
According to Aave’s official announcement, the initial market supports seven tokenized U.S. technology stocks: AAPLc, AMZNc, GOOGLc, METAc, MSFTc, NVDAc and TSLAc. The equities serve as collateral, while USDC is the borrowable asset.
The market uses a dedicated Equities Hub, separating the tokenized-stock lending market from other Aave markets on Base. Aave's governance documentation says the equities themselves are not borrowable at launch, while users can combine different supported tokenized stocks as collateral for USDC loans.
The integration is another example of how tokenized stocks can be used as programmable onchain assets rather than simply representing an investment exposure. Aave's official market is currently accessible through its Base deployment, where users can view the supported tokenized-stock reserves and USDC liquidity.
Coinbase Adds Fixed-Rate Bitcoin-Backed Loans
Coinbase also expanded lending functionality on Base during the week by launching fixed-rate Bitcoin-backed loans. The product allows borrowers to use BTC as collateral while borrowing USDC with a fixed rate and predetermined repayment dates.
Fixed-rate borrowing differs from variable-rate lending because the interest rate is established for the applicable loan period rather than changing continuously with market conditions. The supplied weekly update identifies the product as a Base launch and as part of Coinbase's expanding lending activity on the network.
The development adds another lending use case to Base alongside the tokenized-equity markets launched through Aave. Together, the products cover different forms of collateral: native crypto assets such as BTC and tokenized representations of traditional equities.
More Trading and DeFi Infrastructure Arrives
Base also saw a series of new protocol launches and upgrades. Alchemix launched version 3 on Base, introducing uncapped self-repaying loans, while Upshift Finance brought vault infrastructure to the network, beginning with a Clearstar Labs cbXRP vault.
Revert Finance added rewards and liquidity-provider tools covering all 10 Aerodrome tokenized-stock pools. Spectra Finance also introduced fixed-rate markets for Coinbase Tokenized Stocks on Base, extending the range of fixed-rate financial applications available around tokenized equities.
Meanwhile, Flap launched stock-paired tokens that allow onchain tokens to trade against tokenized stocks. O1 Exchange introduced Community Takeover functionality on Base, allowing communities to assume creator rights and future fees for eligible launchpad tokens.
These launches show that Base's tokenized-stock ecosystem is developing beyond simple spot trading. Lending, liquidity management, fixed-rate markets and token-paired trading are being built around the same underlying onchain assets.
Agents, Payments and Onchain Activity Continue to Grow
The week also brought developments outside traditional DeFi. Dopamin Labs launched intent-based agents on Base that can turn chat and iMessage requests into onchain and real-world actions.
Vapi Network introduced an agent task market where agents can use USDC to pay for APIs, computing resources and completed work. Anyone Market opened its beta on Base Sepolia, giving users access to short-interval BTC and ETH markets.
OpenGradient also crossed 180,000 x402 settlement transactions on Base, according to the supplied ecosystem update. Base has previously highlighted x402 as infrastructure for machine-to-machine payments, describing how the system allows internet requests to incorporate payments and how early activity has developed on the network.
Other ecosystem milestones included 50,000 KOR ID mints through KOR Protocol and a $1 million sale of a PSA 10 first-edition Base Set Charizard recorded by Beezie. The latter was described in the supplied update as the largest known onchain trading-card-game sale.
Base Builders Push New Consumer and Financial Applications
Base's builder ecosystem also remained active during the week. Veranta introduced Treasures and Trades, a five-week trading competition featuring a $100,000 prize pool for Base traders.
Builder Roundtable 002 focused on tokenized equities and included Aero, Virtuals, Bankr, Feel Cash, Base Stonk and shaaa256. Base also awarded Builder Grants to builders associated with BaseMate Agent, MiniSend and BaseBro.
Elsewhere, Alitiknazoglu won Builder Quest with Gifted Stock, a mystery-box product using USDC to distribute Coinbase Tokenized Stocks. Pantheon Vaults introduced Vault Feeds, while Clearstar Labs expanded its cbAssets Vault with cbZEC and cbHYPE markets.
The collection of launches spans financial applications, AI agents, trading products, digital collectibles and developer infrastructure, illustrating the range of activity taking place on Base alongside the network's record DeFi TVL.
What Last Week Says About Base's Ecosystem
The latest weekly activity shows Base continuing to develop around several interconnected themes: DeFi liquidity, tokenized equities, onchain credit, automated agents and stablecoin-based payments.
The most notable financial development was the expansion of Coinbase Tokenized Stocks into lending markets. Aave V4's Base deployment gives eligible users a way to use seven tokenized equities as collateral for USDC, while other protocols are building fixed-rate, liquidity and trading applications around the same asset class.
At the same time, Base's reported $6.2 billion DeFi TVL, $71 million daily tokenized-stock volume record and broader collection of protocol launches point to an ecosystem expanding across multiple onchain use cases. The supplied figures describe activity from the previous week; individual products and markets can change as protocols update their deployments and availability.
