Base, Coinbase’s layer-2 scaling solution, has announced the opening of its Mainnet Bridge to the tomorrow. The move is part of the U.S. leading exchange to onboard a million builders and users to the blockchain.
Summer on Base has yet to come online, and it won’t be ready until the Base Mainnet Bridge is open for public use this month.
Introduced earlier this year, Base officially debuted on July 13. However, the platform didn’t have a user interface for its bridge from Ethereum. This meant that only developers could use the network at first.
Where the World Meets Onchain
The Bridge UI is now running, so anyone can use Base. However, some of the initial Web3 apps on Base may not be available until the official launch on August 9.
To celebrate this milestone, Base is hosting the “Onchain Summer” festival, set to run throughout the month. This event aims to bring together industry experts, developers, artists, and creators to showcase the platform’s potential and foster innovation in the blockchain space.
The Onchain Summer festival, organized by Base, will feature diverse events aimed at engaging and inspiring blockchain enthusiasts. These events include art exhibitions, music concerts, gaming tournaments, and advocacy campaigns.
According to Base’s blog post, the event will bring together 50 esteemed builders, brands, and creators, the festival aims to demonstrate the diverse applications and possibilities of the Base platform.
Additionally, Base is offering grants worth a total of 100+ ETH to developers and creators who contribute to the growth and utility of the platform. The grants will be awarded to projects that demonstrate ingenuity and potential in building applications on Base.
Base has simplified the process of bridging to its platform, allowing for a smooth and accessible transition for users.
There are six easy ways to bridge assets to Base, including using the Onchain Summer festival as an entry point, leveraging the dedicated “Base Bridge,” participating in “Quests on Coinbase,” utilizing “Galxe,” taking advantage of “Layer3,” or connecting through “Mint.fun.” Each method accommodates users with various supported wallets.
Amid DeFi Storm
Base’s move comes at a time when the DeFi sector is facing increased scrutiny from regulators.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC )is currently suing Coinbase for allegedly listing unregistered securities. Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, has said that the SEC asked the exchange to stop trading all cryptocurrencies except Bitcoin. This request came before the SEC sued Coinbase last month for allegedly providing securities trading services.
In addition, there have been a number of high-profile hacks and rug pulls in the DeFi sector in recent months.
LeetSwap, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Base and Linea, announced on August 1 that it was pausing trading due to security concerns. The platform noticed several liquidity pools were being hacked, so it had to resort to a system pause feature for security checks.
Users will not be able to trade on LeetSwap until the project has completed its security checks and determined that the platform is safe to use. The exchange will provide updates on its status as they become available.
The LeetSwap exchange emerged a few days ago when the memecoin $BALD appeared on the Base ecosystem. The token quickly attracted the attention of users, with its trading volume reaching thousand times.
However, the market for memecoins has been relatively stagnant in recent months, and a number of Base-based memecoin projects have shown signs of rug pulls.
The $BALD project also experienced a sharp decline in price when a large amount of liquidity was withdrawn from the platform. This led to suspicions that the project was a rug pull.
