Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) chain incubated by Coinbase, has been unable to accept deposits or withdrawals for almost 48 hours.
On June 25, the L2 said there was a consensus issue that caused an invalid block to be sequenced. The statement was made on June 25, 17:21 UTC. The problem was isolated and resolved, and the team soon announced that a broader recovery was underway.
However, as of June 26, 10:36 UTC, the problem had not yet been fully resolved. In fact, the chain’s status indicated that the Mainnet block product was “unhealthy.”
In addition to block production, deposits and withdrawals were also affected for the second day. Notably, withdrawals were only partially degraded, but deposits suffered a “major disruption.”
In turn, Jesse Pollak, co-founder of Base, assured users that the money was safe and that they were conducting a full autopsy.
He added that shutting down the chain to fix the problem was undesirable and would be a challenge to do better in the future.
All funds are/were safe. But stopping is not okay, and we will use this to further improve Base as a platform for global, 24/7 financing. Thank you for your patience.
The grassroots commitment to tokenization
Additionally, Pollak indicated that Base will allow a DeFi-like borrowing and lending option for tokenized assets once they go live on-chain.
This is part of a broader push towards tokenization as the emerging segment gains popularity. Unfortunately, a chain disruption like the recent one is not a good prospect for such a goal.
That said, Base debuted in the second half of 2023 and has grown tremendously in recent months. It has achieved cumulative revenues of over $184 million with a total locked-in value (TVL) of $4 billion.
Source: DeFiLlama
Half of the $4 billion locked value is on the DeFi lending platform Morpho Blue. Whether the ongoing power outages will dent investor confidence and trigger outflows remains to be seen.
Final summary
- The base chain faced a consensus issue that has partially deteriorated withdrawals and made deposits impossible.
- Base co-founder Jesse Pollak is betting big on tokenized assets with DeFi-like lending and borrowing options