Coinbase-Backed Ethereum Network Base to Dump Optimism Tech as Potential Token Looms

Ethereum layer-2 scaling network Base, which was incubated by publicly traded crypto exchange Coinbase, said Wednesday that it will modify its technology foundation, introducing a new unified tech stack that it believes will allow it to ship upgrades faster and reduce overhead. 

The network’s underlying changes mean it will ultimately move away from the Optimism technology stack, aka the OP Stack)—an open-source framework that facilitates layer-2 networks that also include Worldcoin’s World network, and Unichain, the scaling network from decentralized exchange Uniswap. 

“Excited to share that we are evolving our technical roadmap, consisting of our own spec, code, and infra to accelerate the foundation of Base,” Base Head of Product Wilson Cusack posted on X. “This shift gives us the autonomy to ship protocol improvements more frequently and focus our resources on scaling to 1 gigagas/s.”

This target, 1 billion gas units per second, was highlighted as the network’s “north star,” during a roadmap update last February. It was about 40x the scaling performance of the network at that time. 

As part of its transition, the network aims to ship six network hard-forks per year, doubling its current output. 

“Today, the code operating various components of Base, such as the sequencer, is owned by multiple teams and spread across multiple repositories, which adds coordination and maintenance overhead,” the Base developer blog reads.

“Our unified solution, base/base, built on open-sourced components such as Reth, allows us to dramatically simplify the number of components, by optimizing them directly for our use case,” it adds. 

While no action is required of Base node operators or developers today, over the next few months, they need to migrate to the Base client to maintain compatibility. In the future, the changes are expected to make the network even more decentralized and scalable. 

The Base roadmap update comes a week after Coinbase reported its Q4 earnings, highlighting its intention to drive transactions on the network in 2026 in its shareholder letter.  Last year, representatives for both the firm and the network confirmed that Base is exploring the launch of its own native token, which drew market cap estimates between $12 billion and $34 billion.

The network as it stands today ranks as the highest layer-2 network in bridged total value locked, according to data from DefiLlama, making it around 32% as large in that category as layer-1 network Solana.

Shares of COIN are down about 1% on Wednesday, changing hands around $164. Coinbase shares have fallen by nearly 49% in the last six months.