Coinbase’s Base, an application-focused protocol built on layer 2, is almost ready for launch on the mainnet, with only one criterion left to fulfill.
According to the team’s June 29 announcement, the network, which is secured by Ethereum and powered by Optimism, underwent extensive security audits, both internally and externally, over the course of six months, fulfilling its second-to-last criterion for launch.
The team declared that they have now met 4 out of 5 criteria necessary for mainnet launch, expressing confidence in their progress after not discovering any critical code bugs.
The Base team has already satisfied three criteria. These include introducing a “Regolith” hard fork in testnet, passing an infrastructure review with OP labs (Optimism’s research and development network), and implementing the “Bedrock” upgrade for Optimism.
On February 23, Coinbase officially launched Base, a network designed to be low-cost, secure, and developer-friendly for building decentralized applications.
To ensure the robustness of Optimism’s technology stack, Coinbase’s protocol security team conducted an internal audit to detect any potential vulnerabilities on layer 1, layer 2, and the bridges.
In addition to Coinbase’s internal audit, Base also invited the wider community to participate in a public smart contract audit test through Code4rena. This test aimed to identify any bugs in Optimism’s technology stack. The results were promising, as over 100 security researchers participated and no significant vulnerabilities were discovered.
The security researchers investigated various aspects, including Optimism’s node software, any potential equivalence vulnerabilities within the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), bridge vulnerabilities, and miscellaneous smart contract issues.
The community audit took place from May 27 to June 10, with successful bounty hunters receiving rewards of up to $100,000.
According to a previous post from Base, demonstrating “testnet stability” is the final criterion that needs to be met before the mainnet launch. Although Base did not specify how this criterion would be fulfilled exactly, the team mentioned that they are currently reviewing submissions from the 100 researchers who participated in the public smart contract audit. They are also considering reviews from past audit programs, specifically “spearbit” and “sherlock.”
Base also informed that they have developed Pessimism, an open-source monitoring tool designed to notify builders of any unusual occurrences in the protocol. These anomalies may include irregularities in account balances, contract events, or discrepancies between L1 and L2 states.
In late March, Coinbase expressed their desire to see an inflation-pegged “flatcoin,” an on-chain reputation system, and an on-chain limit order book exchange built on Base.
The announcement of Base back in late February was widely seen as a significant vote of confidence for Ethereum. With Base being secured on Ethereum and powered by the layer-2 network Optimism, it aspires to become a comprehensive platform for building decentralized applications.