decrypt.co
As Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Base continues to gain steam, NFT marketplace OpenSea is gearing up to throw a spotlight on the network and its artists with the launch of “Get Based”—a series of free or low-cost digital artwork drops.
Kicking off Thursday with a mint of a reimagining of the classic “Endless Summer” film artwork (seen in full below) by Carty Sewell—an artist and OpenSea employee, as well—the “Get Based” series is set to encompass works by as many as 15 artists over the summer.
Weekly drops will take place via both OpenSea’s website and via frames on social media protocol Farcaster, with each open edition drop set to cost $5 or less—and some will be free.
Additional confirmed artists/projects for “Get Based” include RGB Punks creator Jhekub, “Primitives” creator Hun, meme artist Cryptic Poet, Twitter “Fail Whale” creator Yiying Lu, illustrator Subwway, and Thank You Base God—which recently did a free Base NFT mint on OpenSea that yielded more than 181,000 total mints.
Base has become a significant part of OpenSea’s focus in recent months as the marketplace embraces the budding NFT scene on a chain that doesn’t yet have entrenched, high-value collections—unlike on layer-1 chains like Ethereum mainnet or Solana.
“Get Based” is planned as an introduction to emerging artists on Base, while also helping to introduce collectors to the chain. OpenSea offers native bridging of assets to Base, as well as the ability to purchase with fiat currency and credit cards via a MoonPay integration.
“The Base ecosystem has proven to be a catalyst for new utility and creativity using NFTs,” OpenSea co-founder and CEO Devin Finzer told Decrypt. “We’ve been supportive of Base since its inception, and we’re excited to highlight up-and-coming artists with unique artistic styles and grow their presence within the larger NFT community.”
The “Get Based” series will take place alongside Base’s upcoming “On-Chain Summer II” promotion, which kicks off on June 3 and will offer more than 600 ETH (nearly $2.3 million) worth of prizes, incentives, and gas credits across various projects and protocols. OpenSea participated in last year’s promotion, and was also a Base launch partner.