Coinbase to launch its own L2 Ethereum blockchain

This Thursday, Coinbase just unveiled Base, a layer2 Ethereum focused DApps. The crypto exchange has already proceeded to launch the testnet.

In pursuit of this goal, Base will serve as both a home for Coinbase’s onchain products and an open ecosystem where anyone can build,” said Will Robinson, VP of Engineering at Coinbase in a blog post.

With Base, the cryptocurrency exchange platform wants to make it easier to develop decentralized applications (DApps) by providing access to its products and tools.

Described as a “standard and modular agnostic superchain,” the network leverages Optimism’s OP stack, a layer2 Optimistic roll-up.

“We are joining Optimism as a Core Dev on the open source OP stack and working to create a thriving community of other developers,” Robinson said.

The California-based firm, which is now trying to expand its product line to address market conditions, has no plans to issue a native token for Base.

We are designing Base to provide easy and secure access to Ethereum L1, other L2s, as well as L1 ecosystems like Solana. We encourage you to start on Base, but go everywhere: we see Base as a ‘bridge’ for users to the crypto economy,” the executive concluded.

Coinbase has simultaneously launched a dedicated Base ecosystem fund that will support promising projects built on the network.