Author: Jesse Pollak; Compiler: Odaily Azuma
On the evening of February 23rd, Beijing time, Coinbase announced that it will launch the Ethereum Layer 2 network Base based on OP Stack, which is a secure, low-cost, developer-friendly Ethereum Layer 2, aiming to introduce billions of of new users.
Shortly after Base’s official announcement, Coinbase development director (To C direction) and Base project founding contributor Jesse Pollak shared the story of Base’s birth on his personal Twitter, and introduced to the outside world in detail how the network turned from an idea into a reality of.
The following is the content of Jesse’s tweet, compiled by Odaily.
1. Today, I participated in the launch of Base as one of more than 100 contributors. Base is built by Coinbase builders and will serve builders all over the world. I'll be talking about how Base came to be in an upcoming tweet, and you can join our Twitter Space at 9:30 PT to learn more.
2. I joined Coinbase in early 2017, 6 years ago, and that happened to be when Brian Armstrong (Coinbase founder) wrote "Coinbase Secret Master Plan"(Coinbase Secret Master Plan) 6 months later, the plan mentioned that Coinbase hopes to create an open financial system for the world.
3. The plan is implemented in four phases:
One is to (help) build protocols, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum;
2. Build an exchange, which is known as Coinbase;
The third is to build user tools, such as Coinbase Wallet;
The fourth is to create Dapps that can carry 1 billion users;
The ultimate vision of the program is to increase global economic freedom through an open Crypto economy.
4. For 10 years, Coinbase has been relentlessly executing on this plan - attracting more users and helping the growth of the Crypto economy. Recently, we have been obsessed with advancing the work of the fourth phase, which is to create Dapps that can host 1 billion users.
5. Insert a sentence here, it should be noted that this master plan of Coinbase was written in 2016. I am grateful to Brian for seeing the future clearly and guiding Coinbase in the direction of the crypto economy.
6. Before we start helping builders around the world build Dapps, we need to start improving from within. As of today, most of the Coinbase products are not Dapps, they are still just Web2 products with some Crypto functions. However, we have recently begun to gradually change the status quo with products such as USDC, Coinbase Wallet, and cbETH.
7. Going forward, we hope to continue to build more of these products and leverage the full capabilities of the on-chain platform. The idea is that if we can get our own team to make a difference, then we'll be able to help other developers as well.
8. As our team continued to push in this direction, two simple questions arose in front of us:
One is how should they build Dapps (like what toolkit to use)?
The second is where should they deploy their Dapps (such as which chain to choose)?
This is something developers must address before creating a project.
9. In early 2022, we try to let Coinbase "pave the way" and find the answers to these two questions.
Regarding how to build, we chose EVM as the main development environment;
Regarding where to build, we believe that high value-added Dapps should be built on the Ethereum mainnet, while projects with greater expansion needs should be built on Layer 2.
(It should be noted that this does not mean that Coinbase's products will no longer support non-EVM environments or non-Ethereum networks.)
10. With a clear direction, we began to "pave the road more flat" as much as possible in various ways:
One is to support EIP 4844 to reduce Layer 2 fees by 10-100 times;
The second is to answer the question of "which Layer 2 solution" is better by creating a real Layer 2 model.
11. Throughout 2022, we have communicated with almost every team that is committed to scaling Ethereum and Layer 2. Their creativity, insight, and belief in helping Ethereum scale have shocked us.
12. Through these discussions, our views have also changed significantly. Before the communication, we tended to think that a single Layer 2 would act as a "dominant scaling network" and gradually absorb all network activity, but after the communication, we tended to think that there would be many active Layer 2 networks, which would act as the hub of different ecosystems. "hub" and work together to expand the capacity of Ethereum.
13. With this in mind, we can't help but ask ourselves - if there will be many Layer 2s in the future, can we build one ourselves to advance Coinbase's mission and help the development of the Crypto economy?
14. Twice in the history of Coinbase (2018, 2020), we considered launching a blockchain, but both times we finally gave up, and this time we chose to roll up our sleeves and start doing it. Thus, Base was born.
15. The appearance of Base will help:
Promote the development of products on the Coinbase chain;
Introducing our clients into the Crypto economy;
Increase investment in core protocol infrastructure.
16. In other words, Base will be a key component of our master plan - Phase 3.5. We believe Base will help developers from Coinbase as well as outside create a new generation of Dapps and attract 1 billion users into the Crypto world.
17. When we started building Base, we found that building a blockchain was completely different than building any other product Coinbase had ever done. The big difference is that it's going to be a "platform," whereas most of the things we've built so far are "products."
18. Building a Crypto "platform" with decentralized features and a large-scale vision means that we need to inherit and carry forward the excellent characteristics of those decentralized "platforms" in the past.
19. We therefore formulated four key principles when building Base:
One is "building bridges, not islands";
The second is "open source";
The third is "decentralization";
The fourth is "for everyone".
20. "Build bridges, not islands" means that in our design, Base will have safe and easy access to Ethereum, other Layer 2 and even Layer 1 (eg Bitcoin, Solana). Base will act as a "bridge" for those off-chain users and provide them with a simple experience of on-chain activities, helping them use products from any location.
21. "Open source" means that we believe the foundation of the Crypto economy should be open source and free. Base is built on Optimism's OP Stack and will join OP Labs as the second core developer to contribute to the development of public goods.
22. The meaning of "decentralization" is that although the Base system is built by Coinbase, we will firmly promote the decentralization of the platform.
23. "For everyone" means that Base will be an open ecosystem where Coinbase will seed our products, users, and assets, and then work with the community to truly bring blockchain to life . We're excited to see so many projects join us on day one.
24. Over the past 6 months we have been working hard to embed these values into Base. It's been a massive team effort, and the vibe has grown within Coinbase to attract more and more contributors.
25. We started with a handful of contributors, but now have over 100 people across the company. We have commemorated each contribution with a "Base Contributor" NFT, and we hope to expand this to a wider scope in the coming year.
26. We are excited to build Base together as we strive to make Base the foundation of the Crypto economy.
27. Finally, we invite you to be a part of Base's history too. From now until midnight EST on Sunday, each address can mint a commemorative NFT of Base"Based, Introduced」。
28. Join us and build Base together.
