Friend.Tech Drives Base Activity, Visa Experiments with Off-Chain Gas Payments

Market Update Equity indices are declining today on higher-than-expected PPI data for July. The $SPY and $QQQ have fallen 0.24% and 0.88%, respectively, while U.S. Treasury yields have risen across the board. Crypto markets are faring better, with $BTC (+0.17%) trading near $29.5k and $ETH (+0.12%) hovering around $1,850. Rocket Pool ($RPL) has been a strong performer over the last three trading days, rising 11.30% after Coinbase announced a strategic investment in the liquid staking provider. Looking ahead, the SEC’s second deadline on Ark’s spot Bitcoin ETF is 8/13 (Sunday), so many expect a decision to be announced after market close today. The consensus is that they will defer the decision. A deferral would make early September the next key date to watch as multiple ETF applicants, including Blackrock, approach their decision deadlines.Coinbase’s newly launched layer-2 network Base overtook Optimism in daily active users (DAU) yesterday as a new dApp, Friend.tech, has caught the attention of the crypto community. Base’s DAUs hit a record high yesterday at 136,047 and has seen $175 million bridged to the network since launching. A large amount of the activity can be attributed to Friend.tech, a social network that is rumored to be airdropping a token to its users. Fri