Base announces five key principles and has the opportunity to receive 118 million OP tokens through cooperation with Optimism.

Coinbase has launched the L2 chain Base built on Optimism technology, and its mainnet officially went live on August 9. The Total Value Locked (TVL) has reached $188 million as of now. However, as Coinbase is a centralized exchange, its launch of a public chain has raised concerns. In response, Coinbase has put forward five neutrality principles for Base, committing to making it an open and neutral platform where developers and users can participate freely.

Base's Five Neutral Principles

Neutral Principle #1: The Law of Chains in Blockchain

Coinbase is committed to upholding the Law of Chains as the primary neutral principle of Base. This law establishes a common standard for all OP Stack blockchains and ensures that developers and users can navigate Base's neutral and open block space. As the second core developer of OP Stack, the Base team has worked closely with Optimism to define the initial draft of the Law of Chains and will continue to collaborate with the Optimism Collective to refine this principle based on community feedback.

Neutral Principle #2: Your Keys, Your Cryptocurrency

Coinbase does not store or control the cryptocurrencies that users bring into the Base network. Similar to the Ethereum mainnet, owning cryptographic assets depends on holding valid private keys. Users are responsible for their actions on the network.

Neutral Principle #3: Transaction Ordering is a Free Market

Coinbase does not influence, discriminate, or prioritize transaction order on Base. The Base network only propagates messages based on reception time and optional priority fees set by users. Coinbase’s products, customers, or partners do not receive special privileges for front-running.

Neutral Principle #4: Equal Access to Information

Coinbase does not misuse any non-public information collected from Base. Private transaction data, including any insights gained by the Base team through the operation sequencer such as transaction ordering, is not used for marketing or other commercial purposes. Coinbase and its partners rely on the same public data as others.

Neutral Principle #5: Freedom to Exit

Coinbase does not impose restrictions on withdrawals from Base. Users dissatisfied with Base are free to withdraw assets without penalty. Coinbase does not use exit barriers to defend any substandard experiences or policies.

Collaboration with Optimism

Meanwhile, Optimism has released information on its collaboration with Base, including shared beliefs and new standards for protocol management and economic governance.

The upgrade permissions for Base are shared through a 2/2 multisignature between the Optimism Foundation and Base. This multisignature will be used for emergencies and protocol upgrades based on governance decisions.

Transaction revenues from Base will be split and directed to the Collective through on-chain contracts to enhance the sustainability of shared infrastructure. To solidify its long-term alliance with Base, the Optimism Foundation also offers Base the opportunity to earn up to approximately 118 million OP tokens over the next six years.

Note: Optimism Collective is a team composed of companies, communities, and citizens that appropriately reward those who create or maintain public goods through a new model, supporting projects and community building to achieve common interests.