Coinbase has recently launched its own blockchain called Base. It is the very first publicly-traded company to do so. The chain's testnet launched in February and after the developer's launch in July, the mainnet followed a few days ago.
Accordingly, the chain is the result of works in the last 10 years. And it is also a collaboration with Optimism with its goal to creating a 'superchain' and onboarding Coinbase's million users.
What is Base
Base is an Ethereum layer 2 network built as an Optimistic roll-up on OP Stack (open-source, permissionless) where transactions are secure, faster and cheaper. Base is said to have been designed to deliver the same security and scalability of Ethereum blockchain but at a fraction of the cost. Apparently, Base is developed to bring the next million builders and billion users onchain."¹
Our vision is to create a robust developer ecosystem of interoperable L2s and rollups that will help onboard the next billion users into web3.²
That's quite a bold goal or mission but it will be interesting to see how it will be able to onboard such a magnanimous number.
With Base's roll-up architecture, developers can easily build applications on it at a significantly reduced cost. They can also apply for grants. Various DApps including games, stablecoins, Lending, DEX, NFTs, bridges and basically anything can be built on the chain.
Base supports various Web 3 wallets — i.e: Coinbase Wallet, Metamask, Rainbow, TrustWallet etc.³
Plans for Base
Accordingly, Base is designed to work as "a bridge Ethereum Layer 1, other Layer 2 as well as L1 ecosystems like Bitcoin, Solana and Cosmos. It is to be open source which allows and enables anyone to contribute to, fork and extend to help the cryptoeconomy scale. Furthermore, Coinbase has also plans to have Base be fully decentralized over the years and to keep it as an open ecosystem, seeded with Coinbase products, users, and assets."⁴
Base launched with over 100 DApps already integrated in its ecosystem in various categories:
DeFi: Includes BaseSwap, Aave, Ox, Compound, Ankr, Dodo and many others.
Wallets: Brave, Metamask, Exodus, Rainbow, TrustWallet etc.
Onramp Channels: Transak, Moso, Privy, Coinbase Pay and some more.
NFTs: OpenSea, Guild, CrossMint etc.
Social Apps: Galxe, Mirror, CyberConnect just to name a few.
Also have several bridges, DAO, gaming and infra apps.
Base Bridge
This is the native bridge on the Base network. It enables the transfer of certain digital assets and other data to and from Ethereum and Base.⁵
The bridge currently supports the transfer of these 4 ERC-20 tokens:
- ETH
- Coinbase Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH),
- DAI and
- USDC
Users who transfer any of the supported assets into Base using this bridge can mint a commemorative NFT called "Bridge to Base."⁶
⚠️WARNING
Transferring from Base to Ethereum takes approximately 7 days.
This, according to Coinbase, is a security feature to help secure the chain. Users can opt to use other alternative or third-party bridge which will allow them to transfer assets much faster.
Available bridges include Across Protocol, Celer Network, Wormhole, Hop Protocol among others.
Note that ETH is used for transactions and gas fees on the chain. Base has no native token and Coinbase stated that they do not have any plans to release one.
How To Add Base Network on Your MetaMask Wallet
Open the MetaMask browser extension and Click on "Settings" and then "Networks"
Click on the dropdown menu button and tap on "Add network" and "Add a network manually."
Add the following details on the corresponding fields:
Network Name: Base Mainnet
New RPC URL: https://mainnet.base.org
Chain ID: 8453
Currency Symbol: ETH
Block explorer URL (Optional): https://basescan.org
Save the information and you can now switch network to use Base Mainnet.
How to Add Base Testnet to Metamask
Follow the same steps as above and then manually enter the following information on the dialog box:
Network Name: Base Goerli
New RPC URL: https://goerli.base.org
Chain ID: 84531
Currency Symbol: ETH
Block explorer URL (Optional): https://goerli.basescan.org/
Click on "Save" to add the Testnet. You can now switch between mainnet and testnet on the network dropdown menu.
Summary (TL;DR)
Base is the new blockchain developed by Coinbase built on Ethereum Layer 2. It is "the on-chain home for Coinbase products, users, and assets, as well as an open ecosystem where anyone can build basically any applications.⁷
Base has no native token so ETH is used for gas and transaction fees.
BaseSwap is the native DEX of the Base blockchain and other decentralized exchanges like Sushi, Uniswap have already been delpoyed on the chain.
In addition, various interoperable DApps have been integrated into the Base ecosystem including DeFi, bridges, fiat onramps and others.
The chain has its own native bridge (Base Bridge) which allows the transfer of 4 supported assets (ETH, USDC, DAI, cbeTH). Other bridges like Across Protocol, Celer Network, Hop Protocol etc are also available.
Coinbase Wallet extension is the default wallet on the chain but it also supports other Web 3 wallets such as Metamask, Rainbow, Trustwallet, Exodus and others.
For infotainment only. Info Sources: Base / Documentation /Blog / Coinbase / CMC
Lead photo edited on Canva. Logo/s from Base. Screenshots from Metamask wallet. No copyright infringement intended. 12082023/09:20ph