Body: I saw this term, and I got very confused. Usually when one turns to thoughts of Summer-activities, one thinks of hot bikes, hot beaches, hot swimsuits and cold beers. “Onchain Summer” made me immediately think of Middle School when I failed my only class (Home Economics, and that might explain the current state of my 1-bedroom apartment.) My parents made me read a book called something like, “Becoming an A+ student.”, or something like that. At the end, I had to write a short paper too.
Not fun. But, this “onchain summer” is actually a celebration of Coinbase’s new network, and many of their personnel are probably celebrating with ice-cold Cokes. (More on that later.) This new network is called Base, and it opened on August 9th. So, let’s see what festivities are planned to help market, er, um, celebrate.
So, what is Onchain Summer?
Through the extent of August, Coinbase will partner with popular brands like Coke to sponsor the minting of NFTs on their new network, and offerings of Ethereum to developers to encourage them to develop new applications. (D’apps, the cool kids say.) For the “cool” kids like these, there will also be a hackathon with substantial cash awards given. Said one company official, “We wanted to give people a reason to be on-chain this summer and set up their first wallet and experience this future,”
For its part, Coke is partnering to introduce its own collection of NFTs. At the same time, NFTs based upon many well-known works like, “Girl with a Pearl Earing” and others will be available for sale.
OK, so, where’s the downside?
Interestingly, as I keep reading, many of the DeFi talking points are repeated; “democratizing finance”, “bringing wealth-building tools to the normal people” that kind of thing. Certainly, this might happen, but I had to laugh when I read that the token rolled out just this month, already suffered from its first exploit. In fact, one company official lamented this weakness, when he said, “One thing Onchain Summer is exposing is just how broken our UX is in the main Coinbase app for NFTs, Dapps, and L2s today. Sorry to say, but true.” (BTW, “UX” is the term for “user experience” and it refers to how easy the product is to use.) Later, the same company official responded that using the app with devices like phones introduced a difficulty of use that was beyond his prediction. Given that many use their phones to trade cryptocurrencies, this seems to me to be a big problem.
The Verdict
The onchain summer might not be too bad, certainly not like when I was in Middle School. But, just like a trip to a tropical beach, some precautions might be in order. Just as you might bring suntan lotion, it seems reasonable to bring a limited amount of your investable assets to this party. The reasons are similar too; You don’t want to be too exposed. Perhaps, if you do bring a cooler full of “potent potables” to a beach, you might limit yourself to 1-2, and here, you might want to “reward” yourself with a purchase or 2. Be sure to pack sunglasses too, you do not want to be blinded by shiny objects.
REFERENCES
Coca-Cola and Friends with Benefits to Celebrate Base Network’s ‘Onchain Summer’ (coindesk.com)
Base Mainnet Launches, Paving the Way for Onchain Summer Era – Crypto Briefing
Coca-Cola Unveils its “Masterpiece” NFT Collection | Entrepreneur
Coinbase CEO Admits There Are Problems With Broken UX (cryptopotato.com)
Editor’s Note: Please note that the information contained herein is meant only for general education: This should not be construed as Tax Advice. Personal attributes could make a material difference in the advice given, so, before taking action, please consult your tax advisor or CPA.