WORLDTECHBase activates Denim upgrade, replacing Flashblocks with 200ms blocks
Base, the Ethereum layer 2 network built by Coinbase, has switched on Denim, its fourth network upgrade, which cuts block times tenfold to 200 milliseconds. The network says the change should make onchain trading and payments faster and more responsive.
Timing of the switch and new block rate
Base activated Denim at 18:00 UTC on Thursday, the time it had scheduled on its status page. Public RPC data checked by Unchained shows the first block under the new schedule arriving at 18:00:01 UTC, two seconds after the last two-second block.
The network now yields five complete canonical blocks each second, where it previously produced one every two seconds.
Flashblocks removed in favour of final blocks
Flashblocks had streamed previews of pending transactions between blocks. Those previews could be dropped from the final block, so applications had to reconcile differences between preconfirmed and canonical states.
Denim drops that intermediate layer. Every 200-millisecond block joins the canonical chain, so a transaction included in a block is confirmed on the chain instead of sitting in a provisional state that might still change.
Goals and the assets it targets
Base says the aim is to make onchain transactions quicker and more responsive for trading and payments. It also points to tokenized stocks and other assets that need faster onchain settlement, where tokenized means an asset is represented as a tradable entry on a blockchain.
Base further describes improved finality, streamlined B20 compliance and millisecond-precision timing for smart contracts, programs that run on a blockchain and move funds according to their own rules.
Effect on timers that count blocks
Because blocks now arrive ten times as often, any timer that counts blocks rather than minutes and was started before the switch runs out ten times faster. Applications that measure elapsed time in blocks will need to adjust.
Open questions
- How will applications that count blocks rather than time adapt to the faster schedule?
- Will removing Flashblocks change how existing applications treat transaction finality?