Earlier today, digital asset exchange Coinbase announced the launch of its Ethereum L2 (Layer 2) network called ‘Base’ on the Optimism OP stack. This latest news has sent the Optimism network native token OP up nearly 18% in the last 24 hours.
Base is Coinbase’s latest launch, a layer 2 blockchain designed to be a low-cost, secure, and developer-friendly blockchain that will serve as a bridge to bring users into the crypto economy, according to Coinbase.
Optimism (OP) Surges Nearly 18% In 24 Hours
The latest announcement from Coinbase has increased hope among the OP community, which has been reflected in the market. Over the past 24 hours, the token has surged by 17.8%, pushing its price from a closing price of $2.3 as of yesterday to trading above $2.9 at the time of writing.
OP’s trading volume has also spiked significantly from $458 million as of February 22 to as high as $754 million in the last 24 hours. Over the past seven days, it has added more than $150 million to its market cap, pushing the token to rank #75 in the largest crypto by market cap on Coinmarketcap.
Looking at the chart, OP seems to be gearing up for another rally. The chart shows a double bottom which signifies an upcoming uptrend, the first at $2.1 and the second at $2.4. Should OP continue its bullish trend, the token could go as high as $3.2 within a short period.
Meanwhile, OP has rallied by over 2x since the beginning of the year, after moving from its trading price below $1 late last year to recording a new all-time high of $3.19 earlier this month. Optimism is a layer-two blockchain on top of Ethereum that leverages optimistic rollups.
The network’s OP stack is an open-source modular approach for building blockchains and enabling the combination of proprietary elements of various chains to create customized solutions for Ethereum.
Coinbase Layer Two Network To Launch On OP Stack
Announced February 23, Base is Coinbase’s very own layer-2 network aimed at onboarding more than a billion users into the crypto economy with a “secure, low-cost, developer-friendly way for anyone, anywhere, to build decentralized apps (dApps),” according to the Coinbase announcement.
The network is built for many reasons to enable interoperability among chains. It offers access to other L1 blockchains, such as Solana. The blockchain is said to kick off as a highly centralized network but will become decentralized over time.
According to Coinbase, its decentralization plan includes working closely with OP Labs and the Optimism Collective to revamp the Optimism ecosystem. This plan targets more decentralization by creating a “Superchain” connecting networks built on the OP Stack.