Blockchains are no longer just for sending money and storing value. With gaming rapidly taking over the Web3 space, it’s become necessary to build blockchains specifically for gamers. Take the popular crypto game Axie Infinity for example. Although the game already operated on Ethereum, they created Ronin, a separate Layer 2 blockchain, to better cater to their players. Now, it looks like another contender for a gaming blockchain has appeared with Base - an Ethereum L2 by Coinbase! 

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What is Ronin?

The Ronin blockchain was developed by Sky Mavis, the team behind Axie Infinity. It is a layer-2 scaling solution tailored specifically for Axie Infinity and other gaming applications. Although Axie was already operating on Ethereum, the blockchain couldn’t keep up with the demands of a high-traffic gaming ecosystem. It couldn’t handle large volumes of players leading to transactions taking take too long and gas fees being expensive causing a lot of problems for Axie players. 

As a result, Sky Mavis decided to build a blockchain specifically to address these issues and cater specifically to their playerbase. Ronin provided an optimized solution that enhanced the user experience, reduced costs, and allowed the game to scale effectively. This brilliant move by Sky Mavis helped push forward Axie Infinity as one of the leading popular play-to-earn games (P2E). 

These achievements have made Ronin a good benchmark for blockchain looking to tackle niche applications such as gaming. With different gaming platforms now looking to utilize Base - it might just act the same!

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What is Base?

Base is a layer-2 blockchain built on Ethereum developed by Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. It aims to reduce transaction costs, increase throughput, and enhance the overall user experience for decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts. 

Its core features include:

• Layer-2 Solutions: Just like Ronin, Base operates as a layer-2 solution on Ethereum. This means it builds on top of the Ethereum mainnet to offer its own features while still benefiting from the security of the underlying blockchain. 
• Optimistic Rollups: Base primarily uses Optimistic Rollups, a technology designed to aggregate multiple transactions into a single batch. This reduces the overall load on the Ethereum mainnet. As a result, Base offers increased transaction speed and cost efficiency.
• Interoperability: Base is designed to work seamlessly with existing blockchain networks. It also has full compatibility with Ethereum, allowing developers to deploy existing Ethereum smart contracts with minimal changes. Furthermore, Base is also integrated with Coinbase which allows users to interact with L2s in a user-friendly manner. 

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How Base Could Be the Next Ronin

Base’s potential to become the next Ronin lies in several key factors. For one Base significantly reduces transaction fees compared to the Ethereum mainnet. This is crucial for crypto gaming, where frequent transactions are common through in-game purchases and trading of in-game assets. Having lower costs enhances the overall gaming experience by minimizing the economic barriers for both players and developers. Base’s use of rollup technology also allows for faster transaction speed. Faster transactions help in real-time gaming scenarios, where delays can negatively impact one’s gameplay. This overall increased scalability also allows for Base to support more complex games and applications that require handling large transaction volumes.  Base currently has around $1.7B in Total Value Bridged, over 27M users, and has breached 1M daily active addresses. 

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Furthermore, the Base blockchain’s compatibility with Ethereum means that developers can easily port existing games to the L2 solution with minimal adjustments. Base also offers several developer tools and resources that simplify the process of building games on their blockchain. Lastly, their inherent exposure to the already established Coinbase ecosystem makes Base prime for adoption. 

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Base Going Forward

While still a relatively new blockchain, many projects are already starting to see the potential in Base. The blockchain has formed several partnerships such as with Optimism, a leading L2 on Ethereum and Chainlink, the leading blockchain oracle. Furthermore several gaming projects have already started building on base such as Tribally - a Web3 social gaming platform as well as other individual games like Parallel and Virtual Protocol. 

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No blockchain is perfect and as more Web3 use cases are found, more specific blockchains are sure to be made. As Ronin was to Axie, Base might be for the next generation of games. Making use of Ethereum’s large network effect while still maintaining scalability is definitely a win. Both gamers and developers looking to benefit from these are sure to find value in Base! 

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