​Onboarding the Next Billion Users Into Web3.

Coinbase - the crypto exchange - just announced it’s own layer 2 network built atop of Ethereum.

Their Nasdaq ticker: COIN. Their layer-2 network: Base.

But what does all of that mean? let’s break this down.

Ethereum is a 'layer 1' which can be thought of like the iOS operating system on an iPhone.

Base is a ‘layer 2' which is sort of like an app found on an iPhone.

The main advantages of layer 2’s like Base, are that they make transactions faster and cheaper than transactions running directly on Ethereum.

They do so by processing batches of transactions separately, then sending verification of the transactions in bulk back to Ethereum.

Why did Coinbase build this?

The main reason, according to Coinbase, is “to bring the next billion users to web3.”

(Gotta love that!)

The company says Base will be the new home for Coinbase's on-chain products, and has been built in a way that’s easy for developers to adopt, with the hopes of it being an open ecosystem for millions of new decentralized apps (dApps).

What could go right/wrong?

This isn’t the first layer-2 with the promise of making life easy for developers, and offering a fast, secure solution.

Developers have plenty of options, and in order for it to succeed (similar to iOS apps), developers will need to adopt it en masse.

So far their crypto exchange has been great, but unfortunately, other products like their NFT marketplace...not so great.

The good news is that Coinbase has plenty of available resources to put towards projects like this.

Plus they’ve already noted dozens of partners who’ve committed to building in, and supporting, the ecosystem; including Chainlink, Etherscan, and Aave.

Onboarding the next billion people into web3 is a big vision.

Let’s see if they can pull it off!