What Base is
Base is an Ethereum layer 2 network built by Coinbase and open to anyone, launched in 2023. It runs as an optimistic rollup: its sequencer orders transactions into blocks, batches of them are posted to Ethereum, and proofs make its checkpoints verifiable from Ethereum.
It uses ETH as its native currency and works with Ethereum's tools. Coinbase describes it as a blockchain for global finance, built for instant transactions around the clock, and it is one of the Ethereum layer twos our custody module supports.
What it does in your platform
Custody & wallets
Gives each customer a Base address for ETH and the tokens you list there, credits deposits at the stage of finality your rules choose, and signs withdrawals under policy. As an EVM chain, it runs on the same connector as Ethereum, with its own settings.
How the connection works
The module reads Base over the same JSON-RPC interface as Ethereum, from your own node or a node provider such as Infura, Alchemy or QuickNode, and signs through your custody provider or your own keys.
An address per customer
The module gives the customer a Base address, which receives ETH and every token you support there.
Preconfirmed in a Flashblock
After roughly 200 milliseconds, Base's sequencer includes the transaction in a Flashblock, a preconfirmation, and in an L2 block after about two seconds.
Posted, then final
After about two minutes a batch holding it is posted to Ethereum, and after about twenty minutes it is final there.
Counted under your rule
Base's documentation names finality on Ethereum as the strongest guarantee for exchanges and high-value transfers. Your rules set the stage each deposit waits for.
Screened and credited
The deposit is screened and credited, and the movement appears in the backoffice.
A withdrawal signed
After limits, screening and approvals, the transaction is signed by your custody provider or your own keys, sent to the network and reconciled.
Next to other chains
Base shares Ethereum's address format and node interface, so it runs on the module's EVM connector with its own node access, tokens and finality rule, under the same policies, approvals, screening and reconciliation as every other chain.
Node access for Base can come from a provider or your own node, and moving it between them later does not change the rest of the platform. Each deposit is credited on the chain it arrived on, and the ledger keeps assets on Base apart from their namesakes on Ethereum.
When Base fits best
A strong fit when
- Your customers move ETH or stablecoins on Base.
- You want an Ethereum layer 2 with preconfirmations in a fraction of a second and finality on Ethereum.
- You already run Ethereum and want its layer twos with little extra work.
Also worth a look
- Arbitrum, another Ethereum layer 2, if your customers are there.
- Solana or Tron, if your customers' stablecoin activity is on those chains.
How we get you live
Node access
We connect the module to Base through your own node or a node provider such as Infura, Alchemy or QuickNode.
Custody and tokens
We check that your custody provider supports Base and each token you list, by its contract address on Base, or set up your own keys.
Finality rule
We agree with you the stage a deposit waits for, from the L2 block to finality on Ethereum, the strongest guarantee Base names for high-value transfers.
A testnet run
The whole flow runs on Base Sepolia, its testnet, before real funds move.
