The Secret Based Master Plan (just between you and me)

Many of you may know Based as the frontend for crypto perps and spot. In the last four months, we have processed $28.7B in volume and generated more than $10M in fees. However, many may not be aware that Based’s long-term plan is to build the ultimate financial platform where people can trade not just crypto, but also FX and prediction markets.

As the market conditions are challenging today, I want to take some time to explain the rationale behind our decisions and why this matters in the months ahead.

The most valuable business

Two years ago, we started to come up with the idea that wallets could be one of the most profitable businesses out there in the world. Centralized exchanges are the most profitable business in the world. Binance generates an estimated $17.5 billion of revenue in a year, roughly on par with Spotify’s entire global business and about one-third of Meta’s.

At the beginning, we all had to rely on centralized exchanges. They provided deep liquidity, orderbooks, and trading features that on-chain systems simply couldn’t match. When I first joined crypto in 2018, smart contracts were still primitive, ERC-20s and NFTs were considered cutting-edge.

Fast forward eight years, and we now have decentralized protocols like Hyperliquid capable of processing billions in daily transaction volume with near-zero latency. Feature by feature, these protocols are reaching parity with centralized exchanges, and when that happens, the wallet becomes the new exchange. Instead of owning orderbooks or custodying user funds, wallets will integrate directly with on-chain liquidity.

This model is not only more efficient. it’s more aligned with how the internet should work: composable, permissionless, and user-controlled.

We believe the next billion-dollar financial company won’t be an exchange. There have been many valuable billion dollar businesses in crypto which are centralised exchanges. The next billion-user project won’t be an exchange. It will be a wallet, in fact, a crypto SuperApp. That’s why Based exists.

The Road Ahead won’t be Easy

I should mention that the journey to billions will not be easy. We are building during what is arguably one of the toughest environments in years. Markets are choppy and macro conditions are not the best with inflation. As many of our users are traders who are long-biased, we understand how painful these drawdowns can be. We see the same charts and we know it’s easy to be disheartened when the broader market seems down. This is the time that most teams may throw in the towel and quit. But we, at Based, don’t.

The Plan

We’ve already built a strong foundation, a platform that works seamlessly across mobile and web, with a user experience that is deliberately sticky. We’ve introduced gamified mechanics like blindboxes, gachas, and engagement streaks to make the experience fun, rewarding, and worth returning to.

Everything we do is aimed at sustaining usage and retaining users. There must be compelling reasons to use Based.

With our previous payments background, we’ve integrated payments into our product from Day One. Today, Based accepts deposits from banks in different currencies. We also have BasedCash, which lets people spend stablecoins with a Visa card worldwide.

A month ago, we released a mini-app store. This mini-app store aims to build a network of financial mini-apps that can be built by independent developers. When users trade, a portion of fees goes to developers, who are incentivized to build apps.

As more users use Based, developers build more apps; as more apps exist, users have more reasons to stay. This creates a self-reinforcing ecosystem, similar to the iPhone and App Store. This is why building the mini-app store is so important to us from a strategic point of view.

A category by itself

We started off as a wallet on Hyperliquid, but we are not staying as a wallet on Hyperliquid. As Based grows, we will define a new category that is uniquely Based, something that defines us, something that has not been done before.

A platform cannot be huge if it only provides minor user experience differences; this is something we are painfully aware of, in our four years of building Based. We saw this at the start of Based. If we had started off by only creating a slightly nicer user experience compared to Hyperliquid, we wouldn’t be where we are today. We reached where we are because we have always been innovating on bold ideas and narratives along the way. This is why the Based product line keeps growing. Growth of product lines is important to figure out what works.

We must not lose what got us so far. This is why we need to continue to iterate, innovate, and find our own niches to create a new market out of nothing.

We believe that finance will become a form of entertainment in the future. Trading livestreams will be as popular as e-sports. People will watch traders compete and celebrate wins, the way they cheer for gamers on LoL or Starcraft.

Other than watching, imagine if people can even make predictions on prediction markets on how these games play out. Predict the winners of a trading competition. Predict economic outcomes or news.

Based Cloud, HIP-3 and HyENA

Earlier, we announced Based Cloud, a service where Based would spin up user interfaces for different perps markets. Instead of following a laissez-faire model of allowing any projects to launch under us, we have been very selective on the number of partners that we work with.

Perpetual DEX-es are a more intricate offering than what most would like to believe. HyENA is a USDe-margined perpetuals product that is built on HIP-3 with the support of Ethena. USDe margin products have been really popular these days, with ByBit having more USDe deposited than USDC. We are proud to be the main contributor to HyENA, and we look forward to releasing this in the coming weeks and unlocking a new multi-billion dollar market on Based. Community First

Our Season 2 will end in early January 2026 as we head into the next phase. We genuinely believe in ensuring that our users deserve an allocation that commensurates with the resources they place with us. With regards to our NFT and ecosystem token allocations for Based TGE, more details will be shared in closer settings, such as community AMAs.

What’s ahead

A lot of things are expected with the goal of ensuring Based becomes the true SuperApp:

1. Integration with prediction markets to not only grow revenue but also provide more sticky touchpoints within our product suite.
2. Creating a 0-fee trading environment for Forex, Commodities, and Metals all within Based. Imagine being able to hedge foreign currencies or speculate on Gold with 0 fees
3. BasedPal NFTs will serve as a shared identity for Based users. A predictive agentic trading infrastructure will be built for BasedPals as a utility. More on this soon.
4. Based Visa Card will resume signups on 29 November 2025, the one-year anniversary of the HYPE airdrop. The HYPE card will be released then. We are also building a list of users who have stayed with us for the longest and deserve our VVIP Based cards that are slated to be launched after TGE.
5. End of season 2 and Based TGE. This will be coming really soon.

Final important note

We hear it often from people that Based is just a “Hyperliquid frontend” with limited upside. We are way bigger than that.

Based is a growth engine that not only accelerates Hyperliquid usage by bringing in new users but is also defining its own category within the next few months as a SuperApp that gives people access to not just crypto spot and perps, but also prediction markets, FX, and yield opportunities.

In short, the Based master plan is:

1. Build the financial layer: deposits, trading, and spending.
2. Grow the ecosystem: empower developers to build mini-apps on Based.
3. Turn trading into culture: livestreams, agents, and social engagement.
4. Bridge on-chain and off-chain worlds: via HyENA and Based Visa.
5. Give everyone a reason to continue using Based for the long term.
6. Don’t tell anyone.