Base

Base needed to grow its developer ecosystem at scale, moving beyond organic community growth to compete directly for developer mindshare against established Layer 2 platforms.

Three obstacles shaped what that required:

• Mainstream platform restrictions: Google and Meta limit crypto infrastructure advertising, cutting off Base from standard developer acquisition channels.
• Diffuse global audience: Blockchain developers are concentrated in specific regions. Broad global targeting produced low intent and wasted spend.
• Creative fit: Developer audiences respond to utility and incentives, not generic crypto messaging. Finding the right angle required structured testing.

Standard paid acquisition channels were unavailable. Google and Meta restrict crypto infrastructure advertising across Base's key markets. Base needed a network with verified Web3 audiences and the inventory to reach active blockchain builders at scale.

Blockchain-Ads provided the targeting infrastructure to reach developers precisely and efficiently through four capabilities:

• On-chain audience targeting: Campaigns reached DeFi protocol users, ETH wallet holders, and multi-chain builders with verified onchain activity.
• Web3 publisher network: Display inventory covered blockchain and developer-focused platforms where builders research infrastructure decisions.
• Geo precision: The platform supported progressive geo narrowing, moving from global reach to focused acquisition in Europe, North America, and Latin America.
• CPA-based optimisation: Campaigns optimised toward verified developer account registrations from day one.

• Developers onboarded: 4,632 verified accounts at $260 CPA
• Impressions: 31M+ delivered across global, European, North American, and Latin American inventory
• CTR: 1.32% blended across all phases
• CPC: $2.93 blended across all phases

The 1,847 active projects deployed represent a 39.9% project activation rate among onboarded developers. This indicates the campaign attracted builders with genuine development intent, not passive sign-ups.

The objective was to establish baseline performance across a global audience. Display ads ran across blockchain and crypto publisher inventory worldwide.

Three creative angles ran simultaneously:

• Ethereum compatibility and low fees.
• Coinbase institutional backing.
• Developer grants and hackathons.

Early data showed the grants and hackathons angle generating stronger engagement from active builders.

All three creative angles continued to run as geo data accumulated. Performance patterns pointed clearly toward Europe, North America, and Latin America as the highest-converting regions. The grants and hackathons creative continued to outperform on developer account registrations. Budget allocation began shifting toward the strongest-performing geos in preparation for Phase 3.

Targeting was narrowed to Europe, North America, and Latin America. Budget moved decisively away from the Ethereum compatibility and low fees angle toward developer grants and hackathons messaging. The consolidation lifted conversion efficiency. The campaign closed with 4,632 verified developer accounts onboarded at a CPA of $260 and 1,847 active projects deployed across the Base ecosystem.