What is Base?
Base is an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) chain that offers a safe, low-cost, developer-friendly way to build on-chain. Base is an L2 built on OP Stack in collaboration with Optimism. We’re incubating Base inside of Coinbase, leveraging the last decade of our experience building crypto products, and plan to progressively decentralize the chain over time. We currently do not plan to issue a new network token.
Some of the highlights of Base are:
Secured by Ethereum: Base is built with the security and scalability you need to power your decentralized apps. It leverages the underlying security of Ethereum, along with Coinbase’s best practices, to enable you to confidently onramp into Base from Coinbase, Ethereum L1, and other interoperable chains.
Empowered by Coinbase: Base makes it easy to build decentralized apps with access to Coinbase’s products, users, and tools. Seamless Coinbase product integrations, easy fiat onramps, and powerful acquisition tools enable developers to serve the 110m verified users and $80B+ assets in the Coinbase ecosystem.
Big features, small fees: Base offers full EVM compatibility at a fraction of the cost and is committed to pushing forward the developer platform. Set up gasless transactions for your dapps with easy developer APIs for account abstraction, and securely build multichain applications with easy-to-use bridges.
Open source: Base aims to be decentralized, permissionless, and open to anyone with the vision of creating a standard, modular, rollup agnostic Superchain powered by Optimism. We’re joining Optimism as a Core Dev on the open source OP Stack, and working to create a thriving community of other developers.
What is a layer 2 network?
A layer-2 network operates on top of an underlying blockchain protocol (Ethereum). It processes transactions off of the Ethereum mainnet (Layer 1), which results in a number of benefits to developers and customers, including:
Improved scalability and efficiency
Increased transaction speeds
Reduced gas fees
Consistent security measures and decentralization as the mainnet (layer 1)
What is the future of Base? How will I be able to use it?
Once we have ensured a successful testnet, we will share our roadmap to the mainnet.
When will Base be available?
Testnet is live as of 2/23/23 and we expect Mainnet to follow.
What is the Base testnet and how can I use it?
Start building on Base testnet by following our developer documentation guides at docs.base.org.
To use Base in the Coinbase Wallet App:
Select the settings icon in the lower right hand corner of your Coinbase Wallet app.
From the menu, select Active dapp network.
Scroll down and select Base Görli from the ETH Testnets section.
What’s the connection between Base and Coinbase?
We see Base as a key step in bringing Coinbase’s products, users, and assets into the decentralized cryptoeconomy. To ensure we’re doing that in a decentralized way, we’re building on Ethereum, in partnership with Optimism, on the open source, MIT-licensed OP Stack. We’re incubating Base inside of Coinbase, leveraging the last decade of our experience building crypto products, and plan to progressively decentralize the chain over time.
Does Coinbase have future plans for a native token on Base?
We currently do not plan to issue a new network token. ETH will be our native gas token. Be aware that scammers may send fake Base tokens. Avoid interacting with them.
Where can Base be used?
For testnet, we are open-sourcing this project in the same ethos as Ethereum. This means that the docs will be available for everyone.
Can customer support give me early access to Base?
No, our support team can’t give you early access to use Coinbase’s products to interact with the Base network.
Where can I learn more about Base?
Visit Base.org.