Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, Base, has achieved high transaction per second (TPS) throughput, according to Jesse Pollak, the firm’s head of protocols. In a post on April 9, Pollak reported that they had seen throughput as high as 300-400 TPS with no issues. However, Chainspect data shows that Base has a real-time TPS of 26.8 and a maximum recorded TPS of 292. L2Beat, a layer-2 ecosystem analytics platform, reported that Base reached a peak of 37 transactions per second on April 8, more than double Ethereum’s 14 TPS.
In response to Pollak’s post, a pseudonymous trader named Wazz claimed that if the observations were accurate, then Base could achieve a similar TPS to the Solana network. Wazz also mentioned that around 60% of Solana’s reported 1,000 TPS were failed transactions, bringing the actual TPS closer to 400. However, Helius Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz questioned Pollak’s TPS figures, arguing that failed transactions were not included in the Base figures. He further stated that the biggest Base block had 94% failed transactions, resulting in a real TPS of 41.
These findings come at a time of rising tensions between Ethereum layer-2 scaling solutions and the Solana network. Solana has recently faced complaints about degraded user experience, failing transactions, and other reliability issues. Mumtaz believes that Solana’s current issues are not due to a fundamental design flaw but rather a specific implementation bug in the networking protocol. Cointelegraph reported on April 9 that several Solana project launches have been delayed due to ongoing network congestion.
Base has experienced a surge in network activity, largely driven by the frenzy surrounding memecoins. The total value locked (TVL) on the Base network reached an all-time high of $1.5 billion on April 9, representing a 235% increase since the beginning of the year as memecoin degens flocked to the network. However, an in-depth analysis of new memecoins on Base revealed that over 90% had at least one security vulnerability, and 17% were outright scams.