Coinbase announced today a partnership with Echo to launch an investment model that community members can participate in, providing further momentum for projects within the Base ecosystem. It also revealed 40 Base projects that have been invested in and supported by Coinbase Venture over the past year and a half. This article will briefly introduce Echo and summarize the Alpha opportunities among the 40+ projects.
What is Echo
Echo was founded by crypto KOL Cobie "@echodotxyz" in March 2024. Cobie was previously the growth lead at Lido and hosted the popular Web3 podcast UpOnly. The core of Echo lies in the "lead investor recommendation mechanism," where users can create investment communities as lead investors, share projects with members, and earn a share of the profits.
Since its launch, over 30+ crypto projects have raised funds through Echo, including well-known projects like Ethena, Morph, Usual, Hyperlane, Dawn, Monad, Initia, and MegaETH. In one year, a total of $100 million was raised, with MegaETH completing a $10 million financing in two rounds through the Echo platform in December 2024, with the first round of $4.2 million completed in 56 seconds and the second round of $5.8 million completed in 75 seconds.
Echo is similar to a "elite alliance" for crypto investors, tending to choose high-potential projects recognized by a small circle, such as Larry Cermak, CEO of The Block, and Marc Zeller, founder of Aave, who have created their own Echo communities. Users wishing to join must first answer some questions and undergo identity KYC verification. Additionally, some communities require certain conditions to be met to gain access to specific investment opportunities. Currently, there are 58 community leaders who have created communities on Echo.
This community-driven investment model manages funds through smart contracts, ensuring that lead investors cannot directly access user funds while granting users the right to decide when to sell tokens. After successfully investing, lead investors can earn a certain percentage of the profits from co-investors, effectively incentivizing the sharing of quality projects. Although its elite-oriented nature makes the user base relatively niche, this screening mechanism ensures project quality, attracting investors who prioritize trust.
This type of investment model typically results in a smaller investor group, but this may change following Coinbase's partnership. Last month, founder Jordan Fish "Cobie" revealed plans to develop an ICO platform, stating, "Currently, there is no good way to conduct initial sales; your best option might be CoinList, but it has significant limitations for several reasons."
In a statement, Coinbase's Vice President of Corporate Development Shan Aggarwal and Base founder Jesse Pollak said, "On-chain investments allow qualified investors to participate in ways that were previously unattainable, while enabling founders to access a broader and more vibrant capital base. We are excited to expand the capital channels for Base builders, allowing more people to participate in the next wave of innovation." Their ideas align, positioning Coinbase Venture as the group leader of Echo at this moment, and it is foreseeable that Echo's target user base will become more "open" than before, leading to the birth of more Base-Build projects.
Some industry experts point out that the relatively loose regulatory environment in the U.S. may promote the revival of public token sales. Matt O'Connor, co-founder of the currently hot ICO platform Legion, stated, "Once ICOs regain vitality, they may shift their focus away from the memecoin craze." In the current market environment, there are increasingly fewer projects genuinely focused on product development, while significant wealth is accumulating behind the scenes. If the collaboration between Echo and Base succeeds, it will open broader funding channels for industry builders and provide more qualified investors with opportunities to participate in previously inaccessible venture capital opportunities.
Base Alpha
We cannot predict the excellent projects that Base may share on Echo in the future, but among the 40+ investment projects mentioned this time, in addition to already well-known projects like Aerodrome, Morpho, and Mirror, there are many Alpha opportunities worth exploring. I have compiled some projects that retail investors can participate in and provided a brief introduction.
AI and Technology
Sapien
Sapien is a decentralized data factory that allows businesses, AI models, and agents to obtain datasets from experts in various fields, including "Q&A labeling, data collection, model fine-tuning, testing and evaluation, text classification, sentiment analysis, semantic segmentation, and image classification." According to data from its official website, it claims to have 110,000 AI trainers from over 90 countries participating in its point program. Sapien plans to launch an open, permissionless protocol on Base in the future, combining economic incentives, a reputation system, and game mechanics to promote the scaling of AI training.
The project is led by Rowan Stone, a co-founder of Base, and Trevor Koverko, founder of Polymath, and has a deep cooperative relationship with Coinbase. As a decentralized solution for AI data labeling, it is said to currently provide services for outstanding companies such as Baidu, Midjourney, Alibaba, and TAL Education, although the specific service models and depth are unknown. Nevertheless, I believe that under favorable project conditions, users can currently participate in the zero-cost point program to potentially obtain tokens that may be issued in the future.
HeyElsa
Elsa is an AI agent designed specifically for blockchain-related tasks. I have been tracking this project for a while, and in a situation where various DeFAI concept ChatBots are rushing to issue tokens, it is rare for this project to focus on product development without issuing tokens. Elsa is now able to reliably meet almost all token interaction needs across multiple chains, including staking and lending, sending and receiving cryptocurrencies, swapping and bridging cryptocurrencies, checking cryptocurrency prices, viewing popular tokens, setting up portfolios, and obtaining the latest news. Currently, users can earn points by completing various tasks, which may be related to future token plans.
Infrastructure
Conduit
Conduit is a crypto infrastructure platform focused on helping teams quickly deploy production-level OP Chains to meet the needs of DeFi protocols, gaming companies, and NFT platforms. The project recently completed a $37 million Series A funding round led by Paradigm and Haun Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures. The funds will be used to develop customizable blockchain products. As Base promotes L3 App Chains, Conduit simplifies the blockchain development process under the Layer 2 expansion needs of Base, with strong market demand. Although no tokens have been issued yet, recent funding indicates market confidence, and tokens may be launched in the future to incentivize ecosystem participants.
Supermigrate
Supermigrate is a blockchain project migration service that helps projects transfer between different networks and currently supports Base, Op, Mode, Ink, and other chains. In a multi-chain ecosystem, as L2 develops, the demand for EVM-based migration services may increase, potentially boosting the need for such foundational tools.
Social and Prediction Market
Limitless
Limitless is a decentralized social prediction protocol similar to Polymarket, allowing creators to configure prediction markets and share them with the community. Users can trade the outcomes of real-world events and earn fees, similar to binary options or 0DTE options, providing a low-cost trading experience. The total betting amount in the market has reached $170 million. Users may earn future tokens by actively participating in prediction markets, providing liquidity, or referring new users.
Neynar
Neynar provides developer tools to help build decentralized social networks, primarily serving social protocols like Farcaster. The project recently completed a $11 million Series A funding round with participation from Coinbase Ventures. As the infrastructure for social protocols, it currently operates through a business model based on fiat and crypto subscriptions. However, as a tool deeply involved in Farcaster products, the possibility of issuing tokens to incentivize its ecosystem in the future cannot be ruled out.
The above projects are not commercial investment advice and are shared for informational purposes only. Please be cautious in protecting your assets during the current bear market. The rapid development of the Base chain will fully leverage the strong Devs in its ecosystem to accelerate product issuance. Base is also working to increase community engagement and investment opportunities in valuable products from various aspects to "release a broader pool of funds," which will bring more opportunities on Base. BlockBeats will continue to track valuable information.
Based.
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