LaunchBase 🟦

LaunchBase is a beginner-first crypto investing app built on Base that utilizes hybrid security models for a smooth introduction to first time users. Users pick a risk profile, deposit once, and the portfolio automatically balances between the bond-like stablecoins and equity-like ETH as a hybrid asset.

Key features: Users can onboard within 10 clicks from email account to crypto invested ✅ Web2 natives can stay in their realms of familiarity: Coinbase’s embedded wallets mean users never have to manage any keys; just an email works! Users only interact with USDC; rebalancing and portfolio creation is all abstracted and no need for coin picking! Autobalancer which automatically trades assets to maintain a consumer’s risk profile regardless of changes in the market means users don’t have to actively manage the fund.

LaunchBase was built with one principle in mind: make crypto onboarding so simple that a Web2 user could go from email to investment in under 10 clicks. To do that, we stacked the right technologies together and weren’t afraid to hack around missing infrastructure when needed. Frontend & onboarding We started with Coinbase Embedded Wallets as the entry point. Instead of seed phrases or browser extensions, users spin up a wallet with nothing more than their email. The flow is streamlined into a single-page interface, so all the core actions—risk selection, deposit, and portfolio view—fit in one compact screen. The frontend was designed with usability first: clean layout, risk profiles explained in familiar terms, and balances always shown in USDC dollar terms to reduce volatility anxiety. Network choice We built on Base, Coinbase’s L2, for its low fees and speed. This meant users didn’t sit staring at pending spinners; transactions settle quickly enough that the UX feels snappy, like a stock-trading app rather than a blockchain dashboard. Smart contracts & portfolio logic On the backend, the portfolio is managed through Solidity smart contracts. These contracts handle deposits, maintain the mapping between “bond” (USDC) and “equity” (ETH), and perform auto-rebalancing when allocations drift too far from the user’s chosen risk profile. Multiple iterations were required to get the balancing mechanism seamless, ensuring that rebalancing felt invisible to the end user. Auto-balancer innovation The autobalancer was the key differentiator. Instead of leaving users to rebalance manually, the contracts handle nudges back to the target mix automatically. This created the “set it and forget it” experience that feels closer to a mutual fund than a crypto app. Stablecoin foundation We chose USDC as the backbone of the “bond leg.” Its stability and yield-bearing integrations provided a reliable base against which ETH exposure could be layered. That simple bond/equity framing gave users clarity and familiarity. Infrastructure hacks Not everything was turnkey. On Base Sepolia, we ran into missing Uniswap support, so we spun up our own liquidity pool to simulate swaps and test rebalancing logic. The frontend was kept ultra-lean by fitting every feature into a single page without sacrificing clarity. Fun fact During development, we also got early access to Coinbase’s new onramp webhook feature. We didn’t end up implementing it in the final build, but experimenting with it showed us how future integrations could make real-time confirmations even smoother without constant polling.