After 4 years of association, Aavegotchi – one of the oldest NFT game projects in Web3 – has officially said goodbye to Polygon, choosing Base, a Layer-2 solution backed by Coinbase, as its 'new home'. This is a surprising decision but also clearly reflects a strategic shift in the context of the Web3 game and NFT market gradually cooling down.
✅ 93% of the community agreed to 'move house' to Base
On the evening of April 8, the community #Aavegotchi passed the proposal 'Make Aavegotchi Based Again' with an overwhelming support rate of 93.25%, officially activating the plan to withdraw from Polygon to redeploy the entire ecosystem on Base.
Key decisions include:
Halting all smart contracts of Aavegotchi on Polygon
Redeploying all assets and gameplay on Base
Minting all NFTs (Gotchis, wearables, badges, REALM parcels, Forge, FAKE Gotchis,…) at a 1:1 ratio
Locking transfer and updating status of old NFTs on Polygon
Removing Layer 3 Geist, a sub-chain previously used to expand the gaming experience
The entire transition process is expected to last about 4–6 weeks, including an audit phase to ensure safety and transparency before operating again on Base.
❗ Why did Aavegotchi 'cut ties' with Polygon?
According to founder Coder Dan, the decision to leave $POL stems from three key reasons:
1. Liquidity on Polygon plummets
Polygon's TVL has fallen straight from a peak of $10 billion (in 2021) to about $725 million (as of April 2025). Meanwhile, both Base and Arbitrum have surpassed the $2 billion mark, indicating that funds are clearly leaving Polygon.
Coder Dan shares:
'Polygon does not provide any significant updates to support the game or increase project discovery. Meanwhile, Base is doing a great job of bringing mainstream users into the Web3 ecosystem.'
2. The Web3 gaming market is in decline, forcing a 'cut loss'
The decline of the NFT and Web3 gaming market has forced the development team at Pixelcraft Studios to significantly cut staff to save costs. In this context, maintaining Layer 3 Geist on Polygon has become economically unfeasible, forcing the project to completely terminate this sub-chain model.
3. Base – A long-term strategic choice
Base is not only a user-friendly Layer-2 but also has an ecosystem deeply integrated with Coinbase Wallet, facilitating easy access for mainstream users – a critical factor for expanding the Web3 community.
Moreover, Base uses Optimistic Rollup architecture on Ethereum, ensuring both security, low cost, and high scalability – which a blockchain game like Aavegotchi desperately needs in the context of reconstruction.
🌐 Not just a 'move house', but a survival turning point
Once making a huge splash when launching its mainnet in 2021 – with all NFTs selling out in less than a minute, Aavegotchi was a symbol of innovation in the first NFT wave. However, after a promising start, the project lacked breakthrough updates, causing the community to gradually lose interest and users to leave.
The 'move' to Base is not merely a platform change, but a vital effort to revive the Aavegotchi ecosystem in tough times.
📉 GHST price plummets under dual pressure
Immediately after the news of Aavegotchi withdrawing from Polygon was announced, the GHST token dropped more than 9.9%, currently fluctuating around $0.41. In addition to the psychological factor from the decision to 'cut ties', the market is also heavily influenced by President Trump's reciprocal tax policy on many countries, which begins to take effect on April 9.
🧠 Summary
The event of Aavegotchi leaving Polygon is not just a 'moving house' news, but also reflects a larger picture: the retreat of platforms that are unable to retain users, while highlighting the fierce competition among Layer-2 solutions in attracting Web3 projects that are seeking a lifeline.
In this context, Base is emerging as a new safe haven, where veteran projects like Aavegotchi can rebuild from scratch with hopes of revival in a new cycle.
⚠️ Risk warning: The cryptocurrency market always carries significant volatility and risk. Investors should conduct thorough research (DYOR) and not make investment decisions based solely on actions from a particular project or platform.
