Coinbase's Base Layer-2 Network Shifts Focus Towards Onchain Economy Growth

Coinbase's Base layer-2 network is making a significant move towards building a more comprehensive onchain economy. The chain has announced that it will focus on three key areas in 2026: expanding tokenized asset markets, scaling stablecoin-based payments, and growing its developer ecosystem.

The shift away from Optimism technology marks a major change for the Base network, which was initially built using Optimism's OP Stack as part of the broader 'Superchain' ecosystem. As the project scales, it has signaled plans to differentiate its infrastructure by relying on in-house code. This move is aimed at achieving greater independence and scale.

The network plans to build infrastructure to support tokenized versions of assets such as equities and commodities, alongside existing crypto-native markets like perpetuals and predictions. It also aims to improve settlement speeds and reduce costs while positioning its Base App as a venue for trading a wide range of assets.