Base launches

Base is Coinbase's L2, built on the OP Stack. Its significance was twofold: a mainstream exchange with tens of millions of users put its weight behind an Ethereum rollup, and it became a magnet for a new wave of onchain social apps and memecoins.

The OP Stack thesis

What it actually unlocked

Base's real contribution wasn't tech — the OP Stack already existed — it was distribution. A regulated exchange with tens of millions of verified users put a low-friction on-ramp right next to an L2, and a wave of onchain social and consumer apps rode it. "Onchain summer" wasn't a protocol; it's what happens when cheap blockspace meets a built-in audience.

Coinbase users ──fiat on-ramp──→ Base (OP Stack)
                                  │ shares standards + (eventual) interop
                                  ↓
                            the Superchain — many chains, one stack

Base didn't fork its own chain stack — it adopted Optimism's open framework and joined the Superchain vision: many chains sharing one set of standards and, eventually, interoperability. It was a strong signal that L2s would be a *platform*, not a product, and that distribution (Coinbase) plus shared infra (OP Stack) is a potent combo.