Base Sees $4.3B Leave the Network as Ethereum Reclaims Lead in Cross-Chain Activity
Coinbase’s Layer 2 network, Base, has faced significant capital outflows so far in 2025, signaling a reversal from the strong momentum it enjoyed last year and reshaping the landscape of cross-chain bridge transactions.
Base, launched by Nasdaq-listed Coinbase, led the way in 2024 by attracting $3.8 billion in net inflows—the highest among the top 20 blockchains. But according to data from Artemis Terminal, the trend has flipped, with Base recording $4.3 billion in net outflows so far this year, knocking it from its top spot.
Meanwhile, Ethereum, the dominant smart contract platform, is bouncing back. After seeing net outflows totaling $7.4 billion in 2024, it has brought in $8.5 billion in net inflows in 2025, indicating that investors are gravitating back to the Layer 1 network.
Base’s slowdown can also be seen in stablecoin metrics. The total supply of stablecoins on Base has hovered just above $4 billion since mid-May, while trading volumes have tapered off, suggesting reduced activity on the network.
Further data from L2BEAT reveals that the amount of ether (ETH) held on Base has dropped sharply over the last month—from 1.82 million ETH to slightly above 835,000 ETH. This drop follows a broader trend of ETH moving away from several Layer 2 networks recently, according to Michael Nadeau of The DeFi Report on X.
Viktor Bunin, a Protocol Specialist at Coinbase, offered some clarity on these shifts, explaining that a large portion of the withdrawals stem from Binance moving funds back to Ethereum’s Layer 1.
“The vast majority is just Binance withdrawing to L1,” Bunin wrote on X. “They held a huge amount on L2s. It’s unclear if they were incentivized to keep it there or simply hadn’t rebalanced across all their supported chains.”
Cross-chain bridges remain critical for transferring assets and data between different blockchains, supporting the interconnectedness of the crypto ecosystem. These recent changes highlight how swiftly capital can shift across networks, influencing which platforms attract the most liquidity.
