Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer-2 Network Base Successfully Passes Security Audit, Prepares for Mainnet Launch

Coinbase’s new Ethereum-based Layer-2 application-focused protocol Base is now close to its mainnet launch, said the crypto exchange in an announcement on Wednesday, June 28.

Coinbase said that Base, the Optimism-powered Ethereum-secured network has undergone six months of rigorous security audits – both internally and externally – by security researchers. As per the Coinbase blog post, over 100 people conducted a rigorous test of the Base’s Network code as part of the audited contest. They tested several parts of the network’s architecture without finding a flaw.

The Base team said that they are now feeling confident about not finding any critical code bugs. They added:

With the completion of these audits, we’ve now fulfilled ⅘ of our criteria for mainnet launch. Completing these in-depth security workstreams without discovering critical severity bugs gave the Base team confidence to proceed towards mainnet launch.

Base is Coinbase’s Layer-2 network that seeks to provide a low-cost, secure, and developer-friendly solution built atop the OP stack. The Base protocol has met three important criteria. Firstly, it successfully implemented a “Regolith” hard fork in the testnet. Secondly, it underwent a thorough infrastructure review conducted by OP Labs, the team responsible for Optimism. Lastly, it integrated Optimism’s “Bedrock” upgrade.

The Robustness of Coinbase’s Base Protocol

Crypto exchange Coinbase launched the Base protocol earlier this year in February 2023. As said, it is a secure, low-cost, and developer-friendly network for building decentralized applications. Layer-2 solutions aim to enhance the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of transactions on networks such as Ethereum. They achieve this by processing transactions in a separate environment and subsequently relaying the outcomes back to the main network.

Base has recently undergone a thorough evaluation of its security measures, with security audits conducted by Spearbit and Sherlock. Coinbase highlights that its own Protocol Security team has already reviewed and validated the findings from these audits.

Initially, the Coinbase’s security team conducted an internal audit to find any vulnerabilities within the Base protocol that might emerge either on Layer 1, Layer 2, or on the bridge. In its external audit, Base conduct an invited the broader community via Code4arena.

The Code4rena contest lasted for 14 days and encouraged participants to identify vulnerabilities in the network’s smart contracts, bridges, and other components. A total of $100,000 in USDC stablecoin was offered as rewards. However, it appears that no one was able to claim the awards, as Code4rena’s page for Base does not show any results.

Base also noted that they have added an open-source monitoring tool Pessimism to notify builders of any anomalies that might arise in the protocol. Coinbase seeks to make Base the home of its future on-chain products. The crypto exchange is confident that Base will become a popular ecosystem among developers in the future.