A Crypto Community's Bold Mission To Get Boomers Safe On Base

With the introduction of Bitcoin 15 years ago, one of the major hurdles to user adoption was the same that plagues many new technologies—it was too complicated for the average person to figure out how to even get started, or "onboarded."

Since then, major companies such as Coinbase have made the process far more easily navigable for people who decide they want to put some of their cash into cryptocurrencies. Onboarding now can be as simple as transferring money from one bank account to another, or paying bills online.

There's perhaps an even more ambitious project than making onboarding simple that's well underway at Coinbase now called Base, which promises to unleash the resources and innovation of a far broader community of crypto developers and innovators.

Building a Base

Base is a new blockchain, one of the core technologies enabling what's widely known as Web3 (or Web 3.0). It's designed to create a more decentralized Internet, free from the clutches of "Big Tech" and supporting a more open, global "crypto economy," accessible to anyone with a smartphone or computer.

Base was developed by Coinbase to seamlessly bridge their users into the crypto economy. It's integrated into the company's mobile and web applications, with easy "fiat" on and off ramps. With 110 million Coinbase users and 7 million users already on Base, it seems reasonable the latter number can be expected to grow substantially.

In recent months, Base has witnessed a remarkable surge in Total Value Locked (TVL), which is similar to how the level of deposits at a traditional bank indicates its soundness. Base's TVL increased by 200% to over $3 billion between February and March this year, as the company plans to continue providing support to developers, in a mission to bring many millions more users safely onto the chain.

Not only does Base make its open-source blockchain available and affordable for innovative new crypto projects, but Coinbase is also introducing a new Smart Wallet with enterprise-grade security that resides in a user's browser with no extensions, apps or complex seed phrases needed.

This month, Base launched its second annual Onchain Summer event, inviting builders, brands and artists to showcase their projects that make it easy for developers to create simplified onboarding experiences for users who transact on Base. Over 600 ETH (approximately $2 million) in prizes, grants and "gas credits" will be awarded to the winning projects.

Boomer Cash Coming

The Baby Boomer generation mostly didn't grow up with computers, as succeeding generations have. And so, they are the least likely demographic to embrace the basic concepts of cryptocurrencies, much less figure out how to safely navigate the technical landscape.

Knowledgeable observers now expect the situation to change very quickly, however, as the SEC in January approved several Bitcoin exchange traded funds (ETFs) and Baby Boomers' financial advisors are increasingly making recommendations to their older clients about allocating some portion of their capital to crypto now. 

Morgan Creek Capital CEO Mark Yusko, for example, recently predicted that $300 billion of Baby Boomer cash will be allocated into crypto markets over the next 12 months. 

The Boomer Movement

Recognizing unique challenges faced by the older generation when it comes to understanding and participating safely in crypto, a group of Millennials and Gen Zers have formed an online community around a humorous meme coin built on Base.

As with other popular meme coins such as Pepe and Brett, Boomer derives much of its appeal from comic satire—in this case by poking fun at 1980s movies and stereotypical old men yelling at kids to get off their lawns.

Underlying this good-natured teasing is a shared mission by the Boomer on Base community to educate real boomers how to be safe and hopefully successful in the crypto space. With a core group that includes many tech entrepreneurs and executives in their twenties, thirties, and forties, many of them openly express their strong support for Boomer's mission on YouTube, Telegram, and X.com. Many of these community members are openly supportive of the project (or "self-doxxed")—a rarity in crypto world.

Paying It Forward

The Boomer community are also mostly veterans of the Wild West days of crypto, bearing the scars of past scams and exploitations of anonymous crypto developers who still lurk in the shadows. The core team of Boomer seeks to break the mold of typical crypto playbooks and focus on transparency, trust and education.

The community aims to onboard new users to Base and teach them how to survive and thrive in this environment through educational memes and videos. "As a meme token, we want to create a fun and enjoyable way for people to participate in the world of crypto!" the project's vision statement declares.

Their mission represents a form of generational commitment to take care of newcomers in the space, some of whom have plenty of capital but lack the nuanced understanding of decentralized blockchain tokens that generally enables younger generations to operate safely in the crypto economy.

This post was authored by an external contributor and does not represent Benzinga’s opinions and has not been edited for content. The information contained above is provided for informational and educational purposes only, and nothing contained herein should be construed as investment advice. Benzinga does not make any recommendation to buy or sell any security or any representation about the financial condition of any company. Cryptocurrency is a volatile market; do your independent research and only invest what you can afford to lose. New token launches and small market capitalization coins are inherently more risky than large cap cryptocurrencies. These tokens are subject to larger liquidity and market risks.