Base Launches Azul Upgrade, Takes Step Toward Stage 2 Decentralization
Base, the Layer 2 blockchain incubated by Coinbase, activated its Azul community improve on mainnet this month, marking the chain’s first unbiased protocol improve and a big step towards Stage 2 decentralization.
The improve launched on Base Sepolia testnet on April 21 and was focused for mainnet on Might 13, in line with a weblog publish printed by the Base engineering workforce that day. Multiproofs went dwell on mainnet by Might 21, a follow-up publish confirmed.
Azul’s most consequential change is the activation of multiproofs, a system that mixes trusted execution surroundings (TEE) provers and zero-knowledge (ZK) provers right into a single proof structure.
Both proof kind can independently finalize a block proposal, however when each agree, withdrawals from Base to Ethereum can settle in as little as sooner or later. ZK proofs override TEE proofs if the 2 contradict, and conflicting proofs set off an computerized soundness alert that disables the related prover. The design is modeled on a finalization roadmap proposed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
Base presently holds $4.38 billion in whole worth locked, helps $1.37 billion in every day DEX quantity, and hosts $4.66 billion in stablecoin market cap on-chain, in line with DefiLlama information.
Stage 2
Buterin’s decentralization framework for Layer 2 networks defines Stage 2 as the purpose at which a series can detect and deal with proof system bugs onchain with out counting on a privileged safety council to intervene. Base reached Stage 1 in April 2025, when it established a decentralized Safety Council to approve upgrades. Fault proofs, which permit any consumer to problem an incorrect state declare, have been activated in October 2024.
Multiproofs fulfill a core technical requirement for Stage 2 by enabling onchain detection of proof system bugs. The ZK element makes use of SP1, a prover developed by Succinct Labs, which Base cited for its efficiency and audit historical past. The system is designed so {that a} compromise of quick withdrawals would require an attacker to defeat a number of unbiased proof programs concurrently.
Earlier than the improve, Base ran an audit competitors on Immunefi from April 21 to Might 4 with a most reward pool of $250,000 for important vulnerabilities reported towards testnet code.
Shopper Consolidation and Efficiency
Azul consolidates Base onto a single shopper stack. The improve drops help for all execution and consensus purchasers besides base-reth-node, an execution shopper based mostly on Reth and one among Ethereum’s highest-performing purchasers, and base-consensus, a brand new consensus shopper constructed on the Kona framework. Base mentioned the consolidation is aimed toward clearing a path to 1 gigagas per second throughput.
Over the 2 months previous Azul’s launch, Base mentioned it decreased empty blocks by roughly 99%, from roughly 200 per day to about two, and sustained a number of bursts of 5,000 transactions per second.
Node operators are required emigrate to the brand new shopper stack earlier than community improve activation. Step-by-step directions can be found in Base’s node operator improve information.
Azul additionally aligns Base with Ethereum’s newest execution-layer specification, often called Osaka. The modifications embody EIP-7825, which introduces a per-transaction fuel cap of roughly 17 million fuel to help future validator efficiency.
What Comes Subsequent
Base outlined two further upgrades deliberate for the approaching months. A performance-focused improve focusing on the top of June is predicted to incorporate an enshrined token normal, Flashblock entry lists, Glamsterdam EIPs, a single mixed shopper binary, and decreased withdrawal occasions. A second improve, focusing on the top of August, would introduce native account abstraction.
Base additionally plans to launch Base Vibenet in mid-Might, a public devnet for builders to experiment with upcoming options forward of mainnet. Base described Vibenet as a everlasting testing surroundings not tied to any particular laborious fork.
