Base to Move Off Optimism's OP Stack
Coinbase's Layer-2 network, Base, is moving away from the Optimism (OP) stack in a strategic shift to gain more independence and flexibility. The departure is expected to reshape the competitive landscape among Ethereum L2s, with analysts noting it could accelerate protocol launches on the chain. The move was also a key topic of discussion on a recent Bankless podcast, highlighting its significance for the L2 narrative wars.
- The move allows Base to retain sequencer revenue that previously flowed to the Optimism treasury under a revenue-sharing agreement, significantly altering the financial arrangement between the two. - Following the announcement, the price of Optimism's OP token fell by over 23%, with trading volume spiking by 157% and $1.28 million in long positions liquidated in 24 hours. - Base's new technical roadmap includes doubling its upgrade cadence to six hard forks per year and a "Base V1" hardfork that will transition the network from optimistic proofs to TEE/ZK proofs. - The new "unified stack" will also remove external dependencies on software from Flashbots and Paradigm, consolidating all components into a single `base/base` repository to reduce complexity. - Node operators currently running on the OP Stack will be required to migrate to the new Base client to remain compatible with future hard forks and network upgrades. - Despite the departure, Base will continue to work with Optimism as a client of its "OP Enterprise: Mission-Critical Support" service, and the new stack initially shares 99% of its code with the OP Stack. - With $3.85 billion in total value locked, Base was the largest chain in the Superchain ecosystem, and its departure represents a significant loss of transaction activity and revenue for Optimism. - While retail traders sold off, on-chain data showed that whale wallets holding between 10 million and 1 billion OP accumulated over 60 million tokens during the price crash.
