The rivalry between Base and Solana has reached a new level after the appearance of a bridge between these networks. The story dates back to September 2025. Back then, Aerodrome co-founder Alex Cutler said at the Basecamp conference that Base would be able to surpass Solana. His words quickly caught the attention of Mert Mumtaz, a well-known Solana advocate and head of Helius Labs.
Tensions escalated after Base launched a bridge to the Solana network on December 4. The loudest Solana representatives accused Jesse Pollak of presenting an attempt to lure users as an idea of compatibility.
A rivalry called healthy competition
The bridge uses Chainlink CCIP and Coinbase infrastructure. It allows assets to be transferred between Base and Solana. At launch, it was integrated into Zora, Aerodrome, Virtuals, Flaunch and Relay. These are applications originally built for Base.
Pollak said that the bridge works both ways and that it is a pragmatic solution. But the founder of the DRiP platform Vibhu Norby disagreed.
He posted a video on X where Alexander Cutler from Aerodrome at Basecamp states that Base will be able to ‘flip Solana’ and become the largest network in the world. Norby wrote that such people cannot be called partners, since in another scenario Solana would simply not exist for them.
This post touched Pollak. His response sparked a new wave of discussions about what the bridge actually means for both networks. Pollak stated that the bridge appeared because Solana assets should have access to the Base economy, and Base assets should enter the Solana ecosystem.
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Norby replied that Base deliberately did not include Solana applications in the launch list and did not even contact the Solana Foundation teams for marketing and operational issues.
Akshay BD, one of the prominent members of Solana Superteam, joined the conversation. He wrote that calling the bridge bidirectional is not enough to make it so. According to him, it is a tool between two economies, and the final impact depends on how it is launched. He added that competition does not scare him, but deception does.
In response, Pollak admitted that the team could have communicated better with the Solana Foundation. But he rejected the idea of a secret plan and said it has nothing to do with reality.
Solana was also skeptical about the Base bridge
Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, quickly joined the discussion. The thread had already gathered a large audience, and the topic caught his attention as well.
Yakovenko wrote that the right option is to port Base applications to Solana so that they run on the Solana network and are processed by validators who stake. According to him, this approach helps Solana developers, and he called everything else empty talk.
During the discussion, Pollak repeatedly emphasized that the bridge was announced back in September. He also said that the project began to be discussed as early as May, including with Yakovenko. Pollak insisted that the bridge works both ways and gives developers from both ecosystems access to each other.
But many developers think otherwise. They are convinced that the method of launching the bridge shows its true meaning. According to them, it helps Base pull capital from Solana, although it is presented as compatible infrastructure.
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The essence of the claims is as follows. If the bridge allows Base applications to import Solana assets, but transaction execution and fees remain on the Base side, then value leaves the SOL ecosystem. This is exactly what is called a vampire attack, and this is what Toly is hinting at.
Pollak continues to insist that this is a misinterpretation. He says that networks can compete and cooperate at the same time. According to him, the bridge appeared in response to developer requests who need access to both economies.
He also added that Base tried to attract participants from the Solana ecosystem during the nine months of development. But according to him, only small projects like Trencher and Chillhouse showed interest.
Norby and Akshay disagreed. They stated that releasing a repository without launch partners and without coordination with the Solana Foundation looks like an attempt to quietly take value under the guise of open infrastructure.
What Solana gets from the Base bridge
Many in the Solana community believe that the bridge gives Base quick access to the cultural and financial activity of Solana. Over the past year, Solana has become a center for memecoins, NFT speculation, and retail user inflow. And that’s a huge stream of attention.
When Base applications get support for SOL and SPL tokens, they immediately connect to all this energy. At the same time, Base gets the image of a ‘neutral’ layer that connects different ecosystems.
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Supporters of Solana say that the network itself only gets expanded opportunities, but not guaranteed value. For the relationship to be truly mutual, the bridge should encourage Base developers to try executing transactions on Solana or motivate applications to use Base liquidity for assets coming through the bridge.
If the bridge works only one way and directs Solana assets into the Base economy, then Solana risks turning into a chain that simply provides liquidity for Base DeFi, rather than an independent direction. In this scenario, Solana will end up on the losing side.
