The NYSE trades roughly $25 billion a day. Nobody calls it a casino.
But in crypto, high onchain volume has come to mean "speculation." Which made sense for years. Most onchain activity was speculation. Which is fine, but it’s not enough.
On Base right now the biggest categories are bluechip spot markets, stablecoin payments, and lending.
In a healthy economy speculation is necessary, but not sufficient, for growth.
The chains that will matter over the long run are the ones that figured out how to be economies rather than arcades.