Coinbase’s Layer-2 (L2) network Base faced a significant outage on September 21, where it went through 20 minutes without producing any blocks, similar to Solana’s previous outages. The event was downplayed with a communication labeling it as “degraded performance” after it was resolved, but the problem was more severe than initially indicated, as Base had its block production completely stalled.
Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base and a prominent developer at Coinbase, revealed that this was the network’s second outage since its inception. The first outage, which occurred in early September 2023, was resolved more quickly, with the blockchain being without new blocks for 15 minutes.
Slorg drew a parallel between Base’s outage and Solana’s well-publicized network outages, noting the disparity in media coverage between the two incidents. While Solana outages receive significant attention from major crypto news outlets such as Coindesk and Cointelegraph, Base’s outage went relatively unnoticed.
Cryptocurrency influencer MartyParty expressed concerns about the recent outage and Coinbase’s communication strategy in handling the issue. Meanwhile, Mert Mumtaz, the founder of Helius, highlighted that Base had more than 500 blocks with zero transactions during the outage, defining it as a significant disruption.
Despite not having a native token to suffer from the outage, related cryptocurrencies may still be impacted by Base’s downtime. As one of the most popular Ethereum L2 networks, Base plays a crucial role in generating fee revenue within the ecosystem, despite its centralized nature around Coinbase.
The outage raises concerns about the reliability of the system and the potential damage to Ethereum decentralized applications. However, the Base team was commended for their swift response and technical expertise in resolving the issue promptly.
Overall, the outage serves as a reminder of the challenges and risks associated with Layer-2 networks and the importance of robust infrastructure and communication strategies in the cryptocurrency space.