Coinbase Launches its Own Layer-2 Network Called ‘Base’

Crypto exchange Coinbase announced the launch of Base – an Ethereum layer-2 network. Coinbase says Base is designed to be a low-cost, secure, developer-friendly environment that will attract more users to the crypto-sphere.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced in a blog post on February 23 the launch of Base. Base is Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 (L2) network offering a low-cost, secure, and developer-friendly network for building decentralized applications (dApps) on the blockchain. Base uses Optimism’s OP Stack. In its blog, Coinbase says its goal with Base is to make “on-chain the next online” and onboard billions of users into the crypto space.

Layer-2 networks help to make transactions faster and cheaper than the blockchain underlying it, in this case, the Ethereum blockchain. It works by processing bundles of transactions on a separate chain. It then sends receipts back to the main net. According to Coinbase, Base will be “a rollup agnostic superchain powered by Optimism.”

Reports by Decrypt reveal that although Base was only announced this week, a test net for the L2 has been live since the beginning of February. Senior Director of Engineering at Coinbase, Jesse Pollak, told the publication:

“This is a bet that we can help enable the next million dapps, which are going to bring in the next billion users. We think that’s going to happen on a five- to 10-year horizon, and this is our contribution to making that happen sooner rather than later.” “Our goal is to launch mainnet in the next few months.”

Coinbase said it would allow developers to integrate their product with Base and provide fiat onramps directly. This means roughly 110 million verified users and $80 billion in assets on the platform in the Coinbase ecosystem.

Will Robinson, Vice President of Engineering at Coinbase, said:

“We encourage them to start on Base, but go everywhere: we see Base as a “bridge” for users into the cryptoeconomy.” Adding, It’s an easy-to-use default on-chain experience with access to products on other chains.”

Coinbase Becomes the First Publicly Traded Company to Launch an L2

Coinbase started trading on Nasdaq under the COIN ticker in April 2021. With the launch of Base, the firm becomes the first publicly traded company to launch an L2 blockchain network on top of Ethereum.

Coinbase added that it has no plans to issue a new network token.

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