Base and cross‑chain liquidity moves

Base is pushing two tracks at once: higher transaction capacity on its chain and more ways for capital to move across chains and lending markets. (blog.base.org, defillama.com) Base said on March 31 that it processed more than $17 trillion in stablecoin volume in 2025, and its payments page now advertises more than $4 billion in monthly stablecoin volume. The chain’s April 8 Batch 003 announcement added 12 teams from more than 1,100 applicants, with a live Demo Day set for May 19 in San Francisco. (blog.base.org, base.org, blog.base.org) Those 12 teams were selected after Base reviewed 1,175 applications, then interviewed about 120 teams before choosing the final cohort. Base said the group is concentrated in decentralized finance, artificial intelligence, prediction markets, and projects using the x402 protocol. (blog.base.org, blog.base.org) Base has spent the past year shifting from a simple Ethereum layer two network into a broader platform for payments, apps, and cross-chain movement. In September 2025, it said it was building an open-source bridge between Base and Solana, and in July 2025 it introduced the Base app as a broader consumer product built on open protocols. (blog.base.org, blog.base.org) That strategy puts stablecoins at the center. Base said in its 2026 strategy post that it wants to make stablecoin payments low-cost, instant, private, and widely available, with upgrades such as stablecoin gas payments, account abstraction, and payment features like memos and rewards. (blog.base.org, blog.base.org) Cross-chain lending protocols are moving in parallel. TermMax describes itself as a fixed-rate borrowing and lending protocol, and its documentation says it offers fixed and variable rates, looping, range orders, and custom pricing curves. (docs.ts.finance, blog.ts.finance) TermMax said in a recent blog post that it is live on Ethereum, Arbitrum, and BNB Chain, while DefiLlama’s protocol page tracks TermMax as an active lending protocol with current total value locked data. That kind of expansion gives traders and borrowers a way to move between chains without relying on a single network for liquidity. (blog.ts.finance, defillama.com) Base’s own builder pitch now leans on that same idea of aggregation. Its documentation describes Base as an Ethereum layer two incubated by Coinbase, and its payments page says the network combines native fiat rails, millions of monthly active wallets, and what it calls deep stablecoin liquidity for a rollup. (docs.base.org, base.org) The near-term test is whether those builder programs and payment rails turn into durable activity after Demo Day on May 19. For now, Base is pairing chain-level scale claims with a pipeline of new apps, while protocols like TermMax keep spreading lending liquidity across more than one chain. (blog.base.org, defillama.com, blog.ts.finance)