🔵 The Inside Scoop on Coinbase’s Base Chain and Its Ties to Real World Assets 🔵 The Blue Dot Hype 🔵
What is Base Chain, and what is its relationship to Optimism and Chainlink?
#BASE
Base Chain is a Layer 2 chain developed by Coinbase, empowered by the Ethereum network, and open-sourced with Optimism. Despite initial speculation, Base Chain is not a new token; it is powered by ETH as the native gas token. Although Base Chain is not using Optimism’s OP token for gas fees, Optimism and Coinbase are working together, which caused Optimism’s OP token to skyrocket.
#LINK
Chainlink is also involved with Base Chain, as evidenced by William Riely’s tweet congratulating the Coinbase and BuildonBase teams on successfully launching the Base Layer-2 network. Chainlink posted a blog on February 18th, just five days before the Base Chain announcement, about tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAs) and scaling DeFi to a global level. In the blog, Chainlink mentioned Backed, a Swiss-based startup for tokenized RWAs, and Backed retweeted the Coinbase and blue dot hype. After the announcement, Backed tweeted that they were bringing RWAs to the Base Chain. Backed’s first product was a tokenized version of a BlackRock ETF, called bCSPX, which is backed 1:1 by shares of those stocks and runs on Ethereum as an ERC-20 token. Coinbase and Blackrock announced a partnership in September of last year, with Coinbase acting as an access point for institutional crypto adoption. From Backed’s website, it appears that they are building the Uniswap of real-world assets, where it will be a simple click and swap to get into RWAs, like shares of Tesla stock. Gnosis is also a partner of Backed and is working on real-world assets.
Intro
Coinbase, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, made waves in the crypto community with the recent launch of its Base Chain. This Layer 2 chain, which is secured by Ethereum and empowered by Coinbase, is built with Optimism and is open-sourced with Optimism. While Coinbase stated that Base Chain is not a token, there are some interesting altcoin connections that are worth exploring.
One of the most notable connections is with Chainlink. William Riely, the head of Chainlink’s CeFi, confirmed that Chainlink is working with Coinbase and BuildonBase, the team behind Base Chain, and expressed excitement about continuing to build together. In a blog post, Chainlink also mentioned tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) and how they can be scaled to a global level with the help of Chainlink’s integration across blockchains and crypto projects.
Backed
Backed, a Swiss-based startup for tokenized RWAs, also retweeted Coinbase and the blue dot hype before the Base Chain announcement. Backed recently launched its first product, bCSPX, which represents tokenized S&P 500 ETF shares. The token is backed 1:1 by shares of those stocks, and the shares are held by a licensed custodian. Backed tweeted after the announcement that it would be bringing RWAs to Base Chain.
The ties between Base Chain and Backed are particularly interesting when considering BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. Backed’s bCSPX token includes big names like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, and 496 other large American companies, and is backed by shares of those stocks held by a licensed custodian. In September of last year, BlackRock and Coinbase announced a partnership together, with Coinbase acting as an access point for institutional crypto adoption.
So, what does all of this mean for Base Chain? While it may not be using Optimism’s OP token for gas fees, the connection with Chainlink and Backed suggests that it could become a chain for trading RWAs. Backed’s partnership with Gnosis chain, which is focused on real-world assets and mentioned RWAs in a recent weekly update report, further supports this possibility.
For investors and traders, this could mean new opportunities for trading tokenized real-world assets in a simpler and more streamlined way. With the backing of BlackRock and the support of Coinbase, Base Chain could become a major player in the crypto space. While it’s still early days for Base Chain, the ties to real-world assets and institutional crypto adoption make it an exciting development to watch.
Conclusion
Coinbase’s Base Chain may not be a token, but its ties to Chainlink, Backed, Gnosis chain, and BlackRock suggest that it could become a major player in the world of tokenized real-world assets. Investors and traders should keep a close eye on developments in this space as Base Chain continues to grow and evolve.
