Countdown! The Base network "heart transplant surgery" starts on May 13th, will the $ETH layer 2 landscape be completely reshuffled?

In the world of cryptocurrencies, upgrades to the underlying architecture are often more important than price fluctuations. The Base network is about to undergo a major upgrade codenamed Azul, with the mainnet deployment scheduled for May 13th. This is not a simple patch but a “heart transplant” that has taken months of work to integrate and rebuild the entire tech stack.

Test data from the past two months has already shown optimization results. The average number of empty blocks per day has plummeted from about 200 to 2, a nearly 99% reduction, indicating a qualitative improvement in block construction reliability. The network can now stably support peak processing of 5,000 transactions per second multiple times, laying the foundation for future scaling. Client versions are also being iterated every two weeks, continuously optimizing validator node performance.

Security is the lifeline. All on-chain components and proof systems included in the Azul upgrade have passed internal and third-party external audits. To further gather global security efforts, a joint bug bounty competition hosted by Immunefi will run from April 21 to May 4, with a maximum reward pool of $250k for high-risk vulnerabilities.

The core breakthroughs of this upgrade focus on three dimensions: security and decentralization, throughput performance, and developer experience. Among them, enabling multi-proof systems is a key step toward the second phase of decentralization.

This system integrates trusted execution environment (TEE) proofs with zero-knowledge proofs, both capable of independently completing finality confirmation. When both proofs agree, users withdrawing from Base cross-chain to the $ETH mainnet can do so in as little as one day. This not only improves capital efficiency but also meets the core requirement of the second phase: on-chain detection and handling of proof system failures.

Design-wise, zero-knowledge proofs can be submitted permissionlessly; if they conflict with TEE proofs, the ZK proof takes precedence. This approach draws on Vitalik’s proposed roadmap for finality confirmation in layer 2 networks, forming a layered defense. Attackers must simultaneously breach multiple independent systems, greatly increasing difficulty. Of course, multi-proof systems are just transitional; the ultimate goal is a fully zero-knowledge proof network, achieving near-instant withdrawal experiences.

In terms of performance, Azul will unify Base into a high-performance client architecture. The base-reth-node will become the sole execution client, with its underlying Reth being one of the top-performing clients in the $ETH ecosystem. The new consensus client, base-consensus, developed based on Kona, significantly improves historical block synchronization speed. The team will continue optimizing toward a long-term throughput goal of 1 billion Gas/sec.

After the upgrade, Base will no longer support execution and consensus clients other than these two official clients. In the coming months, these two clients will further merge into a single binary, simplifying node operation.

For developers, Azul fully supports the latest Osaka execution layer standards for Ethereum, ensuring that Base aligns with $ETH mainnet standards. Most applications will require no modifications. Only developers heavily using modular exponentiation, sending ultra-large transactions, or directly accessing Flashblocks data streams need to pay attention to relevant standard changes.

For ordinary users, no action is needed. After the upgrade, the network experience is expected to be faster, safer, and possibly with lower fees. As multi-proof systems stabilize, withdrawal speeds will continue to improve. Node operators must migrate to the new official clients before the upgrade.

Azul is just the beginning. According to the publicly available roadmap, the June upgrade will focus on performance, introducing native token standards, Flashblock access lists, and further shortening withdrawal times. The August upgrade will focus on user experience, launching native account abstraction features. Additionally, a public development testnet called Vibenet will launch in mid-May for developers to preview and test.

This upgrade marks Base’s entry into a phase of stable, high-frequency independent iterations. Its goal is clear: serve one billion users and build an open on-chain economy. Every solid advancement in underlying technology is a step toward capturing more value for the entire $ETH ecosystem.

Follow me: Get more real-time analysis and insights into the crypto market! $BTC $ETH $SOL

#Gate13周年现场直击 #WCTC trading contest to share 8 million USDT #Bitcoin rebound