What is Degen Chain?

Degen Chain, the latest blockchain entrant, has set the crypto industry abuzz with its features and possibilities. The Degen chain was announced on March 28 by pseudonymous founder Jacek and infrastructure provider Syndicate.

At its core, Degen Chain reportedly represents a low-cost Layer 3 solution, boasting an architecture designed to cater specifically to community needs. Degen Chain stands out as one of the platforms introducing a community token with its own L3 infrastructure anchored by its native gas token, $DEGEN.

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The Pillars of Degen Chain

Degen Chain comprises three essential components:

• Arbitrum Orbit: Serving as the underlying technology stack, Arbitrum Orbit lays the foundation for seamless operations within the Degen ecosystem.
• Base: Functioning as the settlement layer, Base facilitates secure and efficient transactions, ensuring the integrity of the network.
• AnyTrust: Upholding the principles of data availability, AnyTrust plays a role in safeguarding the transparency and reliability of the platform.

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Distinctive Feature that Set Degen Chain Apart

What distinguishes Degen Chain from its counterparts is its focus on community-centricity and innovation. Unlike traditional L3 solutions, Degen Chain is made to accommodate the diverse needs of its user base, fostering an environment ripe for experimentation and exploration.

From tipping mechanisms to community rewards, from payments to gaming, Degen Chain opens multiple opportunities.

“It’s designed to be a vibrant playground for developers and a gateway for users to safely experiment with their funds,” Jacek told Decrypt. “Picture it as the blockchain equivalent of Las Vegas—less about gambling, more about the thrill of exploration and fun.”

Developers will be able to test drive the Degen chain tech stack with Syndicate's free plan. Syndicate provides free gas to developers, as well as Transaction Cloud APIs for developers.

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The Degen Movement

In January, the Degen movement began with a channel on Farcaster, an Ethereum layer-2 social network built on Base.

The release of Farcaster Frames in February made it especially attractive to software developers as an alternative to Twitter for crypto enthusiasts. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is also a big Farcaster enthusiast.

The $DEGEN network has processed more than 553,000 transactions with over 53,000 $DEGEN holders, since January, most of them were reward transactions.

Despite its humble beginnings, $DEGEN has risen significantly since its launch in early January, when it traded at $0.0000008. Early February saw steady gains, but late March saw the token surge to nearly $0.048, marking an astronomical gain of about 6,000,000%. The recent momentum has been attributed to growing adoption within the Base ecosystem. 

Last February, DEGEN raised $1.5 million in grants for emerging projects as a means of fundraising. Moreover, DEGEN has benefited from the increase in memecoin capitalization, with a combined cap of $64 billion following a 200% increase.