Base

Origins

Base launched on mainnet in August 2023, built and operated by Coinbase. It's an EVM-compatible Layer 2 using the OP Stack — the same open-source rollup framework that powers Optimism. Coinbase's stated reason for launching Base wasn't to compete with other L2s, but to bring the next billion users on-chain by lowering the friction of building and using crypto applications.

Base has no token. Coinbase has been emphatic on this point: there is no Base token, no airdrop, no expectation of one. Gas on Base is paid in ETH, like Ethereum mainnet.

Why it grew so fast

Base went from launch to one of the most-used L2s in under a year. Several factors compounded:

• Coinbase distribution. Tens of millions of users with funded accounts who could move USDC to Base in one click, with no withdrawal fees and tight L1<->L2 bridging.
• Smart Wallet integration. Coinbase's account-abstraction-based Smart Wallet defaults to Base, abstracting away gas and seed phrases.
• The 2024 memecoin and AI-agent cycles. Memecoin and AI agent launchpads (Virtuals, Clanker) chose Base as their default chain, driving sustained on-chain activity.
• Onchain Summer. Coinbase ran a massive marketing push in 2023 that brought NFT projects, brands, and DeFi protocols to the chain.

By 2025, Base routinely led L2 rankings by daily active addresses and frequently led by total transactions.

How it relates to Ethereum and Optimism

Base settles to Ethereum mainnet using the OP Stack's optimistic rollup design, with the same seven-day challenge window. It shares many of Optimism's properties — EVM compatibility, Solidity tooling, similar fee structure — and is part of the broader "Superchain" vision in which OP Stack chains share security and infrastructure.

Coinbase contributes a portion of Base's sequencer revenue back to the Optimism Collective, which in turn funds public goods and OP ecosystem development.

Critiques

Base's centralized sequencer is the largest critique — Coinbase controls transaction ordering and could in principle censor or front-run. The sequencer hasn't been decentralized in practice, though the OP Stack roadmap includes a path to multi-sequencer setups. The fact that a public US company runs a major piece of "decentralized" infrastructure is either a feature (real institutional accountability) or a flaw (single point of regulatory failure), depending on perspective.

What's typical on Base

Most user activity on Base falls into a few categories: trading memecoins on launchpads, holding USDC and earning yield, using Coinbase's Smart Wallet for consumer apps, and participating in social-feed-integrated finance via Farcaster Frames. The chain skews more consumer-facing and casual than DeFi-heavy chains like Arbitrum.