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Base has processed 187.8 million agentic payments. This figure is presented in response to Robinhood Chain, which surpassed it in daily active users on July 21. The timing is no coincidence.
Coinbase’s Layer 2 network is under real pressure since Robinhood Chain crossed the 230,000 daily active user mark — and that, just four weeks after its launch. Four weeks. Robinhood Chain even temporarily reached the second spot globally in DEX volumes, behind Solana, with a peak of $877.6 million in a single day. For such a recent network, this is a painful figure for Base, which has three years of experience in the sector and a much heavier infrastructure to manage.
But here’s the thing: more than 80% of Robinhood Chain’s volumes come from memecoin trading. Tokenized stocks, on the other hand, only account for 4% of onchain activity on the network.
Jesse Pollak Admits Missteps, Base Bets on x402
Jesse Pollak, co-founder of Base, did not hold back. He clearly stated that the focus on onchain social products did not succeed as hoped. He also acknowledged that Robinhood Chain had effectively integrated tokenized stocks into their EVM environment — which, coming from the co-founder of a direct competitor, is quite a candid concession.
So Base is pivoting, or at least highlighting what it already has. Its x402 payment protocol reduces transaction fees to almost nothing. Traditional cards charge up to 30 cents per transaction — x402 falls well below that. The protocol has already processed payments totaling $42.4 million, with over 5,000 merchants involved. That’s not a small starting point.
And Base isn’t stopping there with payments. It holds about $3.9 billion in stablecoins, mostly in USDC, placing it on par with Arbitrum in this regard. Partners like Shopify and JPMorgan are already using Base — Shopify for transactions in USDC, JPMorgan for settlements of tokenized products. These are significant names when it comes to reassuring companies still hesitant to go onchain.
Visa, Azul Upgrade, and Institutional Advantage
Base is also integrated into Visa’s stablecoin settlement pilot. Such collaboration isn’t signed in four weeks — it takes months of due diligence, testing, and negotiations. This is probably one of the strongest arguments Base can make against Robinhood Chain’s rapid growth, which still needs to prove its operational sustainability in the long term.
The “Azul” upgrade, completed in May, reduced the withdrawal finality time to about one day. Before that, withdrawals took longer, hindering user experience — especially for institutional players who need certainty on settlement times. One day is still far from real-time, but it’s a concrete improvement that matters in the competition.
The question that remains unclear is whether Base can win back daily active users from Robinhood Chain. Robinhood Chain’s 230,000 users, even if they mainly come for memecoins, represent a retail user base that Base struggles to attract with its more institutional positioning. The two networks are playing different games: one focuses on rapid growth and retail engagement, the other on institutional depth and partnerships that take time to build.
It’s not yet clear if one of these models will outpace the other in the short term. The adoption of stablecoins and onchain payments is growing rapidly in general — there’s probably room for multiple winners. But the race for daily active users is very visible, and Robinhood Chain won it on this specific point on July 21.
Base has three years of experience, $3.9 billion in stablecoins, Shopify, JPMorgan, Visa, and 5,000 merchants on x402. Robinhood Chain has 230,000 daily active users and $877.6 million in peak DEX volume. Both figures are true at the same time.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many payments has Base processed through its x402 protocol?
Base has processed a total of 187.8 million agentic payments, with payments worth $42.4 million via the x402 protocol, involving over 5,000 merchants.
Why did Robinhood Chain surpass Base in daily active users?
Robinhood Chain reached approximately 230,000 daily active users just four weeks after its launch, surpassing Base on July 21, with over 80% of its volumes coming from memecoin trading.
What did Base’s Azul upgrade change?
The Azul upgrade, completed in May, reduced the withdrawal finality time on Base to about one day, improving user experience on settlement times.
