# Building on Base

### What is Base?

Base is an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain developed by Coinbase on Optimism’s OP Stack. Base is designed to address scalability and enhance the capabilities of the Ethereum mainnet by offering faster transaction speeds, reducing costs, and expanding functionality.

### Why Base?

**High TPS (Scalability):** Base network is designed to handle a high volume of transactions efficiently. It can help scale transaction throughput from 10x to 100x what is capable on Ethereum mainnet.

**Low Transaction Costs:** Developers and end users can avoid paying L1 gas fees on Base. Gas fees significantly less compared to the Ethereum mainnet.

**Interoperability**: Base often supports seamless interactions between different blockchain systems. This interoperability allows for more flexible and expansive applications that can operate across multiple blockchain environments.

**EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine):** Base offers full EVM so all existing Ethereum-based smart contracts and infrastructures work seamlessly with Base, allowing our developers to build and deploy with ease.

**Security:** Base leverages Ethereum's security and is backed by the Coinbase ecosystem, providing a trusted and secured network.

### How Does the Base Chain Work?

#### **The Base Chain utilizes an optimistic rollup mechanism to obtain faster transaction speeds and lower fees compared to the Ethereum mainnet. Here is how this works:**

* **Off-chain transaction processing:** The Base Chain moves a significant portion of transaction processing off the Ethereum mainnet, significantly reducing the load on the mainnet, enabling it to focus on securing the overall network and finalizing transactions.
* **Batching transactions:** By processing transactions in batches, the Base Chain leverages economies of scale, spreading the fixed costs associated with each transaction across a much larger group, resulting in lower fees for users.
* **Fraud proofs and security:** Security is obtained from the Ethereum mainnet through the optimistic rollup mechanism. Transactions are presumed to be valid by default, allowing for faster processing speeds. During the challenge period after a transaction is submitted to the mainnet, any user can dispute a fraudulent transaction by submitting a fraud proof.

{% hint style="info" %}
A **fraud proof** is a cryptographic argument that demonstrates a specific transaction within a block is invalid.
{% endhint %}

* **Mainnet validation and finalization:** When a valid fraud proof is submitted within the challenge period, the Ethereum mainnet can revert the block containing the fraudulent transaction. This guarantees the security of the rollup system.


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