Coinbase has officially opened its Ethereum layer2: Base to the public. The Onchain Summer was organized to celebrate the inauguration of day 1 of the mainnet Base.
Coinbase: the Ethereum layer2 Base is now officially open to the public
Popular crypto-exchange Coinbase has made the launch of Base, its Ethereum layer2, official. To celebrate the event, Onchain Summer was organized.
As a result, the long-awaited Base network has been officially opened to the public with more than 100 dApps and service providers being part of the ecosystem.
Users are already free to explore Base-based dApps, using the Ethereum layer2 that promises faster transactions and lower fees than the parent blockchain.
To celebrate Base’s “day one,” Coinbase has organized Onchain Summer, which will allow several weeks to promote Base’s mainnet partner dApps in the areas of digital art, music and gaming.
Starting right now, users have the opportunity to mine a unique “Base, Day One” NFT. As a result, developers and users have already transferred over $100 million worth of assets to Base.
Coinbase and the journey of the Ethereum layer2: Base
Coinbase had introduced the Base testnet last February 2023, with the promise of building an Ethereum layer2 that offered a secure, low-cost and easy way for developers to build dApps.
It was a way for the crypto-exchange to solve the challenge that developers often face on the Ethereum mainnet when it is congested and expensive to use.
Later in May, the Base network had then announced and published its roadmap to the mainnet, although it had not announced a launch date at that time.
Instead, what it had already guaranteed was that Ethereum’s layer2 Base would never issue a new token.
Specifically, Base uses Optimistic Rollup technology to reduce transaction fees and increase scalability. At that time, Coinbase had told the public that there were 3 more steps to go before the layer2 was ready.
And so, after 3 months these 3 steps were successfully passed, arriving precisely at the time of opening to the public.
The CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, also shared his enthusiasm for the official launch of Base:
Today is an important day for accelerating a global, decentralized financial system and increasing economic freedom in the world:@BuildOnBase is now live and available for everyone https://t.co/LXa6qdFzhU
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) August 9, 2023
Shares of COIN are still falling
Not just developers, Base’s new blockchain may also be appreciated by Coinbase investors, although at the moment COIN shares are still on a downward slide.
Today COIN is worth $84.34, down -4.20% from yesterday and -5.44% from the last 5 days, when precisely it was worth $90.
However, the decline began as early as last week, following the release of the crypto company’s quarterly financial and economic data as well. And indeed, last Friday the session had opened with COIN at $89 and closed at $87.
Something to consider is also COIN’s peak in the last year; it came in mid-July, when Coinbase’s stock had reached as high as $110.