What Are Base NFTs?

TL;DR
Base, the new L2 from Coinbase, is off to a strong start, and its Onchain Summer launch event has featured many NFT mints, with notable participants including Coca-Cola, the artist DeeKay Kwon, and gaming project Parallel, while there are still several mints ongoing and scheduled to launch soon.

If you’re following crypto development then you’ll no doubt be aware of Base, the Ethereum L2 from Coinbase, which launched this month and got off to a flying start, including a lot of Base NFT mints.

The Onchain Summer launch event, which kicked off on August 9th and continues through until August 31st, features ongoing NFT-related action, so let’s take a look at the world of Base NFTs and see what’s coming up.

Bridging to Base

First, if you want to interact on Base and maybe pick up some NFTs, then you’ll need to connect your wallet (MetaMask and several others are supported) to the bridge in order to get some tokens (ETH, USDC, DAI, and also cbETH and COMP) over from Ethereum to Base.

This is a quick process, but be warned that bridging back the other way, from Base to Ethereum, takes around seven days. You’ll pay a small fee when you bridge, but of course, the advantage of then using Base is that gas fees are hugely reduced when compared to transacting on Ethereum.

Big Base NFT Mints So Far

Several mints have caught the eye so far, keeping in mind that collections up to now are minting large supplies that anyone can collect, so they’re all trading at low prices and are easy to get hold of.

Also, OpenSea has integrated Base as part of its marketplace, so everything can be collected and traded over there.

DeeKay Kwon and Cozomo de’Medici

DeeKay is a highly respected early-era NFT artist, responsible for a wealth of 1/1s and limited edition animated artworks, while Cozomo exerts a strong influence on NFT art markets as a high-profile collector, and they collaborated on a piece called New Era, which actually comes in two versions, BTC and ETH (the difference is in the flags being planted on top of the Federal Reserve.)

It was an open edition, meaning there were no supply limits within the minting window, so if you want to add a DeeKay piece to your collection, here’s a nice set of two.

Coca-Cola Masterpiece Collection

Featuring the work of eight artists–three very famous and historical (Vermeer, Munch and Van Gogh), five modern and emerging–this collection combines the creators’ artworks with Coca-Cola design imagery, to create, in my humble opinion (hey, art is subjective), some attractively designed compositions.

That said, with around 80,000 of these minted in total, don’t expect any major price pumps anytime soon.

Based Onchain Summer Circle

This open edition mint attracted interest after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted about it, and if you’re interested in minimal, primary-colored, animated generative artwork created especially for the launch of a new blockchain, then Based Onchain Summer Circle should have you covered.

BasePaint

An interactive art and tech project, BasePaint lets artists collaborate to draw on pixel canvasses that are then minted as open editions. You can buy the artworks, or you can mint a brush and participate as an artist yourself.

Tiny Based Frogs

Could a collection of 1,000 on-chain pixelated frogs become collectible, or–having minted out, briefly traded at around 0.12 ETH, and subsequently dropped well below 0.1 ETH–have they already had their moment? Either way, Tiny Based Frogs are out there on the blockchain now.

Upcoming and Still Open Mints

There are plenty of collections that are are open for ongoing minting right now, or that are scheduled to start minting soon, so let’s pick out some to be aware of.

Base Day One

A straightforward idea, Base Day One is the official commemorative NFT for the Base launch, and it can be minted through until the end of Onchain Summer.

Stand With Crypto

In mid-August, an organization launched called the Stand With Crypto Alliance. It’s political in nature, and aims to advocate for crypto, which makes sense considering Coinbase’s legal disputes with the SEC, and ongoing regulatory issues for the entire crypto industry in the US.

The Stand With Crypto Base NFT commemorates that launch, and proceeds from the mint will go to benefit the advocacy organization.

Parallel

Web3 gaming could be a big deal on Base, and a major project that’s on board is Parallel. You can pick up a Parallel starter deck until the end of August, which contains cards allowing you to join the onchain game.

Iskra

Also in the Web3 gaming sector, gaming platform Iskra will be minting Mystery Box NFTs containing items for its upcoming Clashmon: Ignition game, which launches in September. The Base NFT mint takes place on August 27th.

OpenSea

There are not many details about this one, besides plans for an art collection curated by OpenSea, which sounds worth keeping up to date with. Launch date is August 29th.

Several other upcoming mints are scheduled as official parts of Onchain Summer, and you can also find unofficial mints (which vary hugely in their quality) at Mint.fun.

Whether or not Base can rejuvenate the NFT markets more widely remains to be seen, but it looks likely that the chain is going to be an important layer within the Web3 ecosystem as crypto develops from here.