Coinbase Launches L2 Blockchain Using Optimism Software

Coinbase, the biggest US crypto exchange and the first publicly traded one in the country, announced the launch of its new Base blockchain. This marks the beginning of a new epoch of public companies operating autonomous distributed networks, CoinDesk reported.

According to Coinbase executives, the new addition will let the company charge fees from running its own blockchain as well as income from applications on it.

CEO’s “Master plan” dates from 2016

According to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s "secret master plan," which he created back in 2016, Coinbase’s fourth development stage would come from dApps, which would reach one billion users. Coinbase was listed on Nasdaq in April 2021.

Making crypto part of everyday life

Coinbase head of protocols Jesse Pollak, who is overseeing the new blockchain, told CoinDesk in an interview that the new network had deployed 100 dApps or they were ready to launch. He said that the crypto industry needs more real-world use cases as the scope of what can be done with crypto is still “relatively limited.” Coinbase aims to move from speculation to actual integration of crypto in day-to-day life.

Coinbase will demonstrate Base’s capabilities through a promotion with corporate partners, including Coca-Cola.

Base is the fifth-largest L2 blockchain

The newly introduced Base network is a “Layer 2” blockchain running on the Ethereum Mainnet. It uses OP Stack software from Optimism, another well-known Layer 2 network. According to L2Beat, a crypto analysis company, deposits worth $139 million were locked into protocols and apps on Base even before it debuted publicly.

This TVL amount, or “total value locked,” ranks Base as the fifth-biggest L2 blockchain. It is preceded by Arbitrum One with about $6 billion, Optimism Mainnet at $2.9 billion, zkSync Era at $430 million and dYdX with $336 million.