Someone is using Base data today to hype “the chain keeps running after banks close.” I ran the numbers, and they actually make their own argument look bad.
Original post (@madebyshun): Base moved $6.9 billion in USDC; over the past 121 hours, banks were closed for 89 hours, and “65% happened while the banks were dark.”
89/121 ≈ 73.6%. Banks were closed for nearly three-quarters of the period, yet only 65% of the volume occurred during those hours. Even if volume were evenly distributed over time, you’d expect over 70%. The actual figure is lower, which suggests most of the funds are still moving in step with banks’ operating hours. Is this “the chain replacing banks”? It looks more like the chain is still waiting for banks to open so people can deposit and withdraw.
Also, X’s news summary described these figures as “$6.9 billion and 1.89 million transactions in 24 hours,” but the original post covered a window of more than 100 hours. The figures change when they’re passed along, and shill accounts love doing that.
Transfer volume doesn’t equal payments, either. Arbitrage bots, market makers shuffling funds back and forth, and exchanges moving funds internally are all counted in “USDC volume.” Sending $200 for $0.0008 is indeed cheap, and using only 4% of block capacity is true too. But “cheap + spare capacity” means demand hasn’t picked up yet, not that it’s already won.
I’m not bearish on Base—Denim upgrades and card spending data are both progressing. Just don’t use a chart you can’t even interpret correctly to lecture everyone else.
#Base #USDC
Original post (@madebyshun): Base moved $6.9 billion in USDC; over the past 121 hours, banks were closed for 89 hours, and “65% happened while the banks were dark.”
89/121 ≈ 73.6%. Banks were closed for nearly three-quarters of the period, yet only 65% of the volume occurred during those hours. Even if volume were evenly distributed over time, you’d expect over 70%. The actual figure is lower, which suggests most of the funds are still moving in step with banks’ operating hours. Is this “the chain replacing banks”? It looks more like the chain is still waiting for banks to open so people can deposit and withdraw.
Also, X’s news summary described these figures as “$6.9 billion and 1.89 million transactions in 24 hours,” but the original post covered a window of more than 100 hours. The figures change when they’re passed along, and shill accounts love doing that.
Transfer volume doesn’t equal payments, either. Arbitrage bots, market makers shuffling funds back and forth, and exchanges moving funds internally are all counted in “USDC volume.” Sending $200 for $0.0008 is indeed cheap, and using only 4% of block capacity is true too. But “cheap + spare capacity” means demand hasn’t picked up yet, not that it’s already won.
I’m not bearish on Base—Denim upgrades and card spending data are both progressing. Just don’t use a chart you can’t even interpret correctly to lecture everyone else.
#Base #USDC