Leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s new Layer 2 protocol Base announced that it has recently completed four of the five criteria and would soon be all set for mainnet launch. On June 29, 2023, Base said that its Optimism-powered protocol has undergone rigorous security audits for six months – both externally as well as internally – which was the penultimate criteria required for the mainnet launch.
There is no formal launch date announced yet for Base, which will be built on the Ethereum network.
Coinbase is a leading exchange platform where crypto users can trade a wide array of digital assets. Given its cutting-edge features, users can look forward to accessing critical insights like what is the best time of day to buy cryptocurrency.
The team stated that with the completion of the audits, it didn’t find any other critical code bugs. The team also said that the absence of severity bugs has given it the confidence to “proceed towards mainnet launch”.
According to reports, the other three criteria that Base had to fulfill included a ‘Regolith’ hard fork in testnet and an infrastructure review by Op Labs, the maker of Optimism. The other condition to fulfill was to upgrade to Optimism’s ‘Bedrock’.
Launched in February earlier this year, Base was pitched as a secure and developer-friendly tool for building dApps in a cost-effective manner. To assess the robustness of Optimism’s tech stack, Coinbase’s protocol security team also conducted an internal audit to zero in on any vulnerabilities that might appear on Layer 1, Layer 2, and the bridges between them.
Apart from Coinbase’s internal audit, the Base team had also encouraged the developers to participate in a smart contracts audit test via Code4rena. The contest was open to the public and participants had to report bugs in Optimism’s tech stack.
In the series of audit tests that were conducted on the tech stack, more than 100 security researchers participated, according to Base. The security audits which were tested by security researchers included equivalence vulnerabilities in Virtual Machine (EVM), Optimism’s node software, and smart contracts issues.
The public security audits were conducted from May 27-June 10 and Base distributed rewards worth $100,000 among bounty hunters who spotted critical code bugs.
The last criterion that Base needs to fulfill before it’s launched on the mainnet is to demonstrate “testnet stability”.
Coinbase hasn’t yet said anything about when it will be able to fulfill the last criteria, but the team has stated that it’s still in the process of reviewing submissions from researchers who participated in the community smart contracts audit, and the reviews submitted in audit programs conducted in the past — Sherlock and Spearbit.
The Base team added that it has designed an open-source tool to notify developers of anomalies spotted in protocols designed by them. To be called ‘Pessimism’, the tool would enable developers to be apprised about issues like disparities between L2 and L1 protocols, contract events, and account balance irregularities, among others.
In March earlier this year, Coinbase discussed its plans for Base which included an inflation-pegged flat coin, an on-chain limit order book exchange, and a reputation system. Experts see the launch of Base as a massive vote of confidence in the abilities and scope of the Ethereum network.
Amidst the rollout of so many new crypto coins, Ethereum has managed to maintain its hold over the digital assets market. For many market experts, Ethereum is a dependable option for crypto users with specific goals like how to make $100 a day with cryptocurrency.
Disclaimer: This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
