On February 23, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced the launch of Base — an Ethereum layer 2 network. The company claims that the new network will provide a low-cost, secure and developer-friendly environment for building decentralized applications (DApps) on the blockchain.
According to Coinbase, Base aims to be a bridge for users into the crypto economy, providing access to other L1 ecosystems such as Solana, and making it interoperable with other chains. It will also provide access to Coinbase products, users and tools, along with easy fiat on-ramp and powerful acquisition tools. The company said it has no plans to issue new network tokens.
Base will be built on top of the "OP Stack" used by Optimism. It will start out highly centralized, though Coinbase has released detailed plans for how the network will decentralize over time. In its announcement, Coinbase said Base will be "completely open source and freely available." The company said it is joining the OP Stack core development team to "ensure it is a public product available to all."
According to the announcement, Coinbase will continue to integrate as an exchange with other networks, and Base itself will be "a bridge, not an island." Coinbase wants Base to be an easy-to-use network for its customers to become familiar with using cryptocurrencies, but it will encourage users to "start with Base and go everywhere."
In its decentralization plans, Coinbase said it is working with Op Labs and Optimism Collective to decentralize the Optimism ecosystem by creating a “superchain” of connected networks built on the OP Stack. The company judges the current version of Optimism to be a "Stage 0 rollup," citing Vitalik Buterin's post on the decentralization of rollups. By the end of 2023, Coinbase said it plans to advance Base to "Phase 1."
