I know you're tired of reading about Azul, but we are still going to talk about Base Azul Base's first independent network upgrade, going live on mainnet May 13th. What it means, why it matters, and how Base got here. We have come a long, long way from where we started.
Before Azul, let’s rewind.
Base launched in August 2023, built by Coinbase on top of Optimism’s OP Stack. In simple terms, Coinbase needed a fast, reliable foundation to launch their chain, and OP Stack was the best ready-made option at the time. It made sense.
But as Base grew, so did its complexity. The codebase became a mix of contributions from multiple teams like Optimism, Flashbots, Paradigm. That’s not inherently bad, but it slows iteration and makes upgrades harder to coordinate.
Things started to shift in October 2024, when Base shipped Fault Proofs on mainnet. In practical terms, this meant anyone could challenge invalid state transitions. Before that, only Base’s internal system could do it. This was a major step toward decentralization.
Then in April 2025, Base reached Stage 1 decentralization. Control of the network moved away from a single entity to a Security Council made up of 10 independent members, with a 75% threshold required for upgrades.
This wasn’t just symbolic. At the time, out of 62 rollups tracked by L2Beat, Base was only the 10th to reach Stage 1. Most rollups were still far more centralized. This marked a broader shift, decentralization on L2s was becoming real.
In February 2026, Base made its boldest move yet: transitioning away from the OP Stack to its own unified stack, base/base.
This doesn’t mean cutting ties with Optimism entirely, Base remains part of the OP ecosystem as an “OP Enterprise” client. But from this point forward, Base owns its codebase, release cycle, and upgrade path. That shift matters because it allows Base to move faster increasing from roughly three major upgrades per year to potentially six.
And Azul is the first upgrade built on that new foundation.
Let’s break it down.
First: security and decentralization
Azul introduces multiproofs. At a high level, Base now runs two independent proof systems in parallel: a TEE prover and a ZK prover. A TEE (Trusted Execution Environment) acts like a secure hardware-based verifier. ZK proofs, on the other hand, rely on cryptographic verification and are more trust-minimized.
Either system can finalize transactions. But when both agree, withdrawals from Base to Ethereum can settle in as little as one day. Previously, withdrawals could take up to seven days. This is a significant improvement. More importantly, it strengthens security. An attacker would need to compromise two fundamentally different systems, not just one.
There’s also an important design choice: the ZK prover is permissionless. Anyone can submit a ZK proof, and if it conflicts with the TEE result, the ZK proof takes priority. This creates a built-in check without relying on a central authority.
Base is also running an Immunefi audit competition from April 21 to May 4, with a $250,000 reward pool for critical vulnerabilities.
Second: performance
Azul consolidates Base onto a single, unified client stack.
The execution client is now base-reth-node, based on Reth, one of the most performant Ethereum clients available. The consensus layer runs on base-consensus, based on Kona.
In practical terms, this improves efficiency significantly. Empty blocks have dropped from around 200 per day to just a handful. The network has already demonstrated bursts of up to 5,000 transactions per second. It also moves Base closer to its longer-term goal of reaching 1 gigagas per second.
For node operators, this upgrade is mandatory. Legacy clients like op-node, op-geth, op-reth, and nethermind will no longer be supported after Azul. Migration to the new stack is required before May 13.
Third: developer experience
Azul aligns Base with Ethereum’s latest execution specifications, including updates from the Osaka upgrade.
Several changes come with this:
- A per-transaction gas cap of roughly 17 million, designed to improve validator performance over time.
- A new opcode, CLZ (count leading zeros), which enables more efficient computation for certain smart contract operations.
- An increase in MODEXP gas costs, bringing pricing closer to actual computational expense.
- And a streamlined Flashblocks websocket payload, removing account balances and receipts.
For most developers, this won’t require any changes. But if your application relies heavily on MODEXP, handles very large transactions, or directly consumes Flashblocks data, it’s worth reviewing the new specifications.
For users, nothing changes operationally. Base simply becomes faster, more efficient, and more secure. Withdrawals will get progressively quicker as the multiproof system matures.
Honestly, if you've been following Base since the beginning, this moment hits different. We've watched this chain go from launch on borrowed infrastructure to building its own stack, its own clients, and now shipping its own upgrades on its own timeline. The fact that Azul exists and that it's this polished, this well thought out, this ambitious says everything about where Base is headed. Base team that knows exactly what they're building and is moving faster every single cycle. The ecosystem is growing, the builders are here, and the foundation just keeps getting stronger. May 13th is one date on a long road and honestly, it's exciting just to be watching it happen.