Coinbase Sets Public Launch of ‘Base’ Layer 2 Blockchain for Next Week

Coinbase (COIN), the biggest publicly traded U.S. crypto exchange, announced that Base, its layer-2 blockchain built with Optimism's OP Stack, will open to the public on Aug. 9.

Base went live for developers in July so that they could test applications on the new network. Starting Thursday, users will be able to bridge their ether (ETH) to Base, Coinbase wrote in a blog post.

The announcement comes as Coinbase is scheduled to report second-quarter earnings and as it kicked off “Onchain Summer,” a series of events in which creators and developers can make art or build applications on Base. Companies participating include Coca-Cola (KO), gaming powerhouse Atari and non-fungible token platform OpenSea.

The X (formerly Twitter) account for Coinbase Wallet noted that it's already possible to fund ether on Base, even before the live network opens to the public.

Over $68 million worth of ether was bridged to the network last weekend, CoinDesk reported earlier, citing blockchain data from Dune.

Like Coinbase, venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which is also known as a16z, has also made use of the OP Stack and will come out with its own rollup client software, Magi.

“Since we announced Base, our mission has been clear and consistent: bring the next billion users and next million builders on chain,” Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base and head of protocols at Coinbase, said in a press release sent to CoinDesk. “Today, we’re thrilled to announce our next step in that journey.”

Read more: Coinbase’s New Base Blockchain Gobbled Up $68M in Ether, and It’s Not Even Officially Live Yet