Cardano’s Base, the Layer 2 network developed by Coinbase, has announced that over one million wallets have initiated smart contracts on its test network during the Builder Quest period. The surge in data-heavy transactions caused bottlenecks within the network, prompting Base to implement scalability improvements.
To mitigate the surge, Base decided to double the Base block gas limit, which helped reduce the rapidly increasing base fees. However, larger L2 blocks caused issues when batching blocks back to Goerli L1. To address this, Base fine-tuned parameters and made adjustments to reach equilibrium.
Despite the changes, the system still struggled to write the unsafe blocks to L1 until the quests slowed down. This highlighted the need for a more robust, long-term solution.
Cardano’s Base Network Tackles Unique Synchronization Challenges
To improve block batch writing, Base made two significant changes. First, they implemented an improved compression implementation to enhance the utilization of L1 transaction call data.
Second, they began submitting multiple batcher transactions per L1 block instead of one at a time. These changes resulted in a substantial increase in batcher throughput, up to five times the previous capacity.
These improvements have important implications as Cardano’s Base approaches its mainnet launch. The changes allow Base to explore block gas limit increases, ensuring that base fees remain accessible for users.
Furthermore, the modifications increase the reliability of writing L2 data to L1, which is crucial for maintaining speedy withdrawals and transactions.
The Base team also shared insights on the challenges they faced during the Builder Quests campaign. The surge in contract deployments on the testnet led to issues with L2 data management and synchronization with L1.
By identifying and addressing these challenges, Base contributes to enhancing the scalability and performance of the OP Stack as a whole.
Base, which was launched in February, aims to provide a secure, low-cost, and developer-friendly environment for decentralized app development on the Ethereum L2 network.
As Base progresses towards mainnet, the team is focused on ensuring safety and security while scaling the platform to accommodate millions of developers and billions of users on-chain.
With the expertise gained from scaling crypto at Coinbase, the team at Base is committed to driving the growth of the OP Stack, positioning it as the technology that will power the next generation of cryptocurrencies and enable widespread adoption.
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