Coinbase’s Base launches mainnet for builders, will onboard users in August
The foundation's layer-2 mainnet has been unveiled, enabling developers to deploy contracts, while individuals will be invited to join the network in the month of August.
The Coinbase development team announced in a blog post on July 13 that its Base mainnet is now accessible to developers. The team decided to open the network to builders before its official launch to ensure adequate time for user onboarding. Additionally, Base revealed that the network will be publicly launched next month, specifically in August.
Ever since we introduced our testnet, we have been able to make great connections with talented creators and have witnessed the success of their projects on Base.
It is now the moment to proceed: Base mainnet is currently available for developers.
On February 23rd, Coinbase made an exciting announcement about the birth of the Base network. The team proudly revealed that this network would serve as a secondary layer for Ethereum, employing the well-established OP Stack software, also utilized by Optimism. This news brought great joy to the Ethereum community, who interpreted it as a substantial show of support and trust in the platform.
According to the team's notification on July 13, they informed that the Base mainnet currently possesses two operational block explorers alongside an authorized RPC node, which allows users to access information and send transactions. The data retrieved from these block explorers exhibits that the network has been operational since July 2 and has successfully handled more than 1 million transactions.
According to blockchain data, the Ethereum network has implemented an authorized "OptimismPortal" or Base bridge contract. This contract, as claimed by the team, permits developers to transfer Ether (ETH) to the new network for covering gas fees. However, it is important to note that this bridge lacks a user-friendly web interface (UI), therefore its functionalities can solely be accessed through a command-line interface or by executing scripts.
The team announced that there won't be a bridge with a user interface accessible to the public in the first phase called "builder." They have decided to keep this feature saved for the upcoming public release. In the meantime, the team has requested developers not to release their own user interfaces for their applications until the official launch.
Related: The positivity network's transactions saw a significant increase of 67% after the Bedrock upgrade.
The crew is granting builders the opportunity to create a special nonfungible token (NFT) called "Base is for builders" as a tribute to the occasion. Additionally, they are gifting a "Genesis Builder NFT" to any developer who deploys a contract to the network and completes a form on the project's official site.
Optimism Labs, the brains behind the OP Stack, has stated that Base and Optimism will ultimately combine to create a "Superchain" consisting of numerous interconnected networks that boast identical security attributes. However, the Superchain may encounter rivalry from zkSync's forthcoming "Hyperchains," which aim to incorporate many comparable functionalities as the Superchain.
