Coinbase, a centralized digital asset exchange that is listed on Nasdaq (COIN), announced Thursday a scaling product for Ethereum. It will use layer 2 network Optimism technology. This news seems to have sparked a fire under the cryptocurrencies of the Optimism ecosystem.
Data from Coingecko Shows that VELO, the native currency token of the Optimism based decentralized exchange Velodrome Finance, has increased 21% in 24 hours. In the last seven days, the token has increased more than twice. Velodrome accounts for 2.5% of total market volume and is the ninth largest decentralized exchange in the globe.
Sonne Finance’s SONNE token, an optimism-native lending protocol, has increased 82% to bring the seven-day total to more than 300%.
OPX, which is the governance and utility token for OPX Finance has risen by 144% while Perpetual Protocol’s PERP token, a perpetual-focused decentralized platform, has seen a 42% increase in its market capital. In the last 24 hours, other lesser-known names such as THALE and HND, RING, RING, and PICKLE also saw double-digit gains.
CoinDesk data shows that Optimism’s OP token jumped more than 10% to reach a two-week high at $3.10
Coinbase has launched Base, the testnet version its new Ethereum layer-2 scaling product. It announced that it will work with other chains such as Solana, but won’t have its native token.
“Base is open to everyone with the vision to create a standard modular, rollup agnostic. It will be decentralized and permissionless. Superchain “Powered by Optimism,” said the exchange. “We are joining Optimism to be a Core Dev on open source OP Stack. We also want to help create a vibrant community of developers.”
Crypto Twitter speculates that Coinbase is creating a KYC-based DeFi portal, with the assistance of Optimism. This will allow institutions to participate in democratized finance.
Coinbase’s entry into Ethereum layer 2 is one year after it launched a marketplace for non-fungible tokens. Analytics Insight data shows that Coinbase Ventures, which has made over 240 investments, is the most active crypto venture capital firm today.
Base is a place that can be used for decentralized applications, according to observers.
“The collaboration aims to upgrade Optimism Base, Optimism Mainnet and other L2s into an initial superchain,” pseudonymous Analyst Route2FI Twitter. “The superchain is expected to blossom into a network that maximizes interoperability and shares decentralized protocols. It will also standardize its core primitives.