US crypto exchange Coinbase is launching its own Ethereum layer-2 network, called Base.
The NASDAQ-listed company says the new network will provide a low-cost and developer-friendly environment for creating decentralised apps (DApps).
Base has been designed as a bridge to onboard users into the crypto economy, providing access to other layer-1 blockchains like Solana and making it interoperable with other networks.
The network will also serve as the “onchain home” of Coinbase, providing access to the company’s products and tools while featuring easy on-ramps for fiat currencies.
There are no plans to issue a new token for Base, it will use ETH as its native gas token.
Base will be built on the “OP Stack” used by Optimism, with plans to start of highly centralised and gradually decentralise over time.
Coinbase says that Base will be “fully open source and freely available” and that the company will join the OP Stack dev team to “ensure it’s a public good available to everyone.”
Reacting to the announcement on Twitter, members of the crypto community have been largely bullish on the news.
With well over 100 million verified users and partnerships with quarter of a million companies across the globe, Coinbase has a huge platform from which to on-board customers into blockchain and web3.
Ryan Sean Adams, creator of the Bankless Show podcast, pointed out:
“If Coinbase converts 20% of its 110m verified users to Layer 2 users in the coming years, this alone will 10x the total number of crypto native users.”
Sebastien Guillemot, co-founder of dcSpark, said that Coinbase’s decision to build on a layer-2 rather than a sidechain was the right move, considering that almost all crypto transactions occur on Ethereum layer-2s in 2023.
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