- Coinbase claims that Base has been hitting speeds of up to 400 transactions per second “with no issues” this week, rivaling Solana for the title of the most effective network.
- However, the number has been disputed from various quarters, with some saying Coinbase didn’t account for failed transactions, and that the number is less than 50.
Despite being one of the youngest layer 2s in the Ethereum network, Base has become an integral network and is competing with established players on all fronts. Coinbase recently claimed that the network is hitting around 400 transactions, a number that has become the subject of heated debates, especially after it was used to draw comparisons with Solana.
It all started when Jesse Pollak, a Coinbase executive who led the creation of Base, revealed that the network was hitting 300-400 transactions per second “with no issues.”
just saw a few minutes of ~300-400 tps on @base with no issues pic.twitter.com/9O2IrEqX6c
— Jesse Pollak (jesse.xyz)
(@jessepollak) April 9, 2024
(@jessepollak) However, the number shown by chain explorers is much lower. Chainspect puts the number of TPS over the past seven days at 35.5, with the maximum recorded TPS at 293. Another platform, L2Beat, states a similar number of TPS at 34.18.
Solana vs Base
Pollak’s post sparked debate on social media platforms about the validity of the numbers, and the debate got heated when one trader likened Base to Solana. He stated:
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if true, then Base is now doing the same TPS as Solana. Considering Solana is averaging 1K non-vote TPS and 60% of those TXs included in blocks are failed TXs. So actual TPS is around 400. If true Ethereum is already faster than Solana. Very impressive.
According to Chainspect, Solana has processed an average of 980 TPS over the past seven days, peaking at 1,608 TPS.
The Solana community was quick to jump in and defend its chain. One of the criticisms of Pollak’s numbers is that they didn’t exclude failed transactions. Mert Mumtaz, the CEO of Solana-focused Helius Labs, noted that on the biggest block on Base, 94% of the transactions had failed. This only yields 41 actual transactions that went through.
Despite the debates between Base and Solana, one thing is undisputed—Base is growing at an incredible pace and has become one of the most important networks in the crypto space. It currently boasts $5.53 billion total value locked, more than five times higher than at the start of March.
The total accounts on Base have surged to 6.679 million, twice the number from early March. Collectively, these accounts have been making over three million transactions daily on average.
On the other hand, Solana has maintained its position as Ethereum’s most formidable rival. Its DeFi ecosystem has thrived in the ongoing bull rally, with Jupiter and Raydium emerging as some of the most popular decentralized exchanges in the market. Solana-based meme coins are also among the fastest-growing, with Dogwifhat, Book of Meme, and Bonk leading the market, as Crypto News Flash has reported.
