Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced the deployment of Base, its Ethereum layer 2 (L2) scaling network, after developers launched Base testnet Thursday The company said it is rolling out Base, an Ethereum layer 2 (L2) scaling network, after developers launched the Base testnet Thursday. The company said it is incubating Base within Coinbase and that the L2 chain will gradually decentralize over time.
Coinbase L2 Scaling Platform Aims to Help Scale the Crypto Economy
Coinbase has joined the competition of Ethereum L2 scaling projects such as Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Loopring, and Starknet to launch an L2 called Base. The company announced the launch of the Base testnet onThursdayand advised the public to expect the launch of the upcoming mainnet.
On Twitter, Coinbase said,Base is Ethereum L2 that provides a secure, low-cost, developer-friendly way to build decentralized applications for anyone, anywhere Our goal with Base is to make on-chain to be the next online and bring more than 1B users into the crypto economy.”
The cryptocurrency exchange explained that Base will be open source and leverage Optimism’s OP Stack; Coinbase detailed that it is also collaboratingwith Optimism.” We see this toolkit as an open platform where everyone can contribute, fork, and scale the crypto economy.” Coinbase’s blog post stated.
Initially, Coinbase will have more control, but the vision for Base is that over time it will becomecompletely unallowable.” Base will progress from Stage 0 to Stage 1 rollup in 2023 and Stage 2 rollup in 2024.” the announcement noted. Additionally, the blog post emphasizes that Coinbase “has no plans to issue new network tokens”; Base will be a separate network, but will be powered by Ethereum and utilize Ethereum’s underlying security.
Coinbase also announced the launch of the Base Ecosystem Fund, which will support early-stage projects operating on Base as long as they meet the company’s investment criteria. Like many L2 platforms, Base will offer fees that are lower than the cost of trading on-chain with Ethereum. This week, ETHfees were higher than usual, and the L2 protocol Arbitrum, which offers lower fees, exceeded Ethereum’s daily transaction volume.
Base promises to offer full EVM equivalence at a fraction of the cost and promote a developer platform,” explains a blog post describing L2 Base. Following Coinbase’s announcement, OP, the native token of the L2 scaling network Optimism, rose 7.4% against the US dollar. Optimism recently revealed plans to upgrade its network in March.
When Coinbase launched the Base testnet, people on social media complained about the bumpy start. Coinbase Web3 developer Roberto Bayardoexplained that the problem had been fixedand noted that many people were bridging. We are now submitting contracts for verification,” Bayardoadded,
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons.
