Base’s Big Bet: Can Its Upgrade Outmaneuver Ethereum’s Dominance?

Coinbase’s Layer-2 solution just upped the ante—faster transactions, lower fees, and a developer-friendly toolkit. But can it really dethrone the king?

Ethereum’s gas fees still make Wall Street brokers blush, but Base’s latest overhaul might finally give DeFi degens a reason to switch chains. The upgrade slashes latency while boosting throughput—no small feat for a chain that’s barely a year old.

Yet skeptics whisper: Is this innovation, or just another VC-funded sidechain with delusions of grandeur? One thing’s certain—the crypto casino just got a new high-stakes table.

Base’s bold vision for the future

Jesse Pollak’s latest X post sketched a performance roadmap for Base: sub-200 millisecond confirmation times, fees under a cent, and output at 200 transactions per second.

Source: X

But it’s not just about speed, seems like.

Pollak emphasized neutrality – eliminating sandwich attacks and giving builders fair execution – alongside plans to decentralize Core infrastructure in two stages.

When asked if Base could ever hit 1 million TPS, his one-word reply – yes – wasn’t framed as a joke.

TVL rebounds – but can momentum stick?

Base’s TVL has surpassed $4 billion for the first time since December 2024, signaling renewed investor confidence.

Earlier in 2025, the network experienced a prolonged liquidity plateau amid market uncertainty. However, May’s surge suggests that recent protocol upgrades and a stronger focus on decentralization are beginning to gain traction.

Source: DeFiLlama

Still, the challenge ahead is turning TVL spikes into sustained economic activity. Without long-term user retention and organic builder adoption, even this latest liquidity push could prove more cyclical than structural.

Base’s rapid ascent

Ethereumm[ETH] isn’t standing still. The recent Pectra upgrade brought moderate gains in scalability – boosting blob output and nudging smart contract wallet usability forward.

Further down the roadmap, the Fusaka upgrade promises more technical muscle through PeerDAS and Verkle Trees, targeting data availability and state size concerns.

Base, on the other hand, is moving faster. With shorter confirmation times, cheaper fees, and a push toward decentralizing CORE operations, it’s making a case for near-term dominance in the L2 arena.