Degen, the recently surging memecoin, has launched its own Layer 3 network.
Announced on March 28, Degen teamed up with Syndicate, a Layer 3 infrastructure provider, to launch Degen Chain.
The chain was built on top of the Arbitrum Orbittech stack, will settle transactions on Base — the Ethereum Layer 2 DEGEN launched on — and taps AnyTrust for data availability services. The L3 provides additional utility to the DEGEN token, with the token now functioning as the network gas token for Degen Chain.
“Arbitrum Orbit was chosen because of its flexibility and ability to support custom gas tokens,” Will Papper, co-founder of Syndicate, told The Defiant. “Settling transactions to Base has the benefit of enabling more seamless bridging and on/off-ramping from Base and Coinbase for users and developers.
Degen Chain will host the DEGEN token and community moving forward, with the project also inviting third-party developers to build on top of the network.
Jacek, the founder of DEGEN, noted that several socialfi-focused applications have already expressed an interest in building on Degen Chain, including Farcaster frames PayBot, Perl, and LottoPGF.
DEGEN launched in January, with its developers seeking to ride the momentum of Farcaster, the recently surging decentralized social platform.
Farcaster’s daily active user base rocketed by around 2,000% to an all-time high of 40,000 in early February from roughly 2,000 at the start of January, according to Dune Analytics. Farcaster hosted more than 32,000 active users in 24 hours on March 26.
DEGEN was airdropped to Farcaster users and positioned itself as a mechanism to reward activity on the platform, such as tipping and liquidity mining. The token has since enjoyed explosive growth, with its price doubling in the past week and rocketing 2,045% in 30 days, according to CoinGecko.
