Henry Yeung
@henryz
🧵 1/10 Meet Base: Coinbase’s L2 blockchain launched in 2023 to scale Ethereum. A low-cost, developer-friendly network with a wild goal—onboard 1B users to Web3. From testnet to a $1B+ TVL powerhouse, its rise is unreal. Here’s the story.
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Henry Yeung
@henryz
🧵 2/10 Feb 2023: Coinbase dropped Base’s testnet. Built on Optimism’s OP Stack, it promised near-zero fees and Ethereum’s security. A bold move from a crypto giant known for centralized exchanges—why go decentralized? To own the onchain future.
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Henry Yeung
@henryz
🧵 3/10 August 2023: Base mainnet goes live. Adoption explodes—$100M TVL in days. http://Friend.tech, a viral social app, pumps activity. X buzzes with hype. Coinbase wasn’t just playing—it was rewriting the L2 game.
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Henry Yeung
@henryz
🧵 4/10 Base uses Optimistic Rollups—batches transactions off-chain, settles on Ethereum. Current throughput? ~30 TPS, but 2025’s ‘flashblocks’ aim for 200ms tx speeds (2,000+ TPS). Fast, cheap, EVM-compatible. Devs love it.
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Henry Yeung
@henryz
🧵 5/10 By March 2025, Base hits $1.2B TVL, per DeFiLlama. 200+ dApps—DeFi, NFTs, gaming—thrive. Bitcoin-backed USDC loans via Morpho Labs launch in Jan ‘25. It’s not just an L2; it’s a crypto ecosystem.
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Henry Yeung
@henryz
🧵 6/10 But not everyone’s cheering. X critics call it a ‘centralized sequencer’—no consensus, just Coinbase’s control. Is it truly Web3, or AWS with extra steps? The debate rages as Base scales.
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Henry Yeung
@henryz
🧵 7/10 Q2 2025: Flashblocks roll out, slashing block times >90%. Appchains and smart wallet sub-accounts debut. Base isn’t slowing—it’s sprinting to outpace Solana, Arbitrum, even Ethereum itself.
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