Base, an Ethereum layer-2 network developed by Coinbase, will break away from the Optimism Superchain ecosystem and switch to its own stack, The Block reported on Feb. 18 local time.

Base appears to be seeking to reduce reliance on the existing Optimism (OP) Stack and external services such as Flashbots, and build a self-operated integrated solution.

Base has established itself as the largest chain in the Optimism Superchain, but the change is expected to alter its security structure. The Block reported that a Base security council will replace the Optimism security council by adding independent signers.

The Base development team plans to optimise its own stack by using the open-source component Reth to reduce the burden of adjusting and maintaining the existing Optimism stack. But this does not mean Base will operate in a closed environment. The protocol will remain public, and external teams will be allowed to develop independent clients and respond to hard forks.

Base will keep its Stage 1 rollup status and maintain compatibility with the Optimism stack in the short term. But node operators must migrate to the Base client to maintain compatibility with future hard forks.