Coinbase-backed Ethereum layer-2 network Base resumed block production after a two-hour outage that halted transaction processing. The incident struck ahead of a planned upgrade, temporarily disrupting one of Ethereum's largest layer-2 networks by total value locked.
Base's block production issue was resolved within hours, with no user funds reported at risk. The network, which processes millions of dollars in daily volume, returned to normal operations without requiring a hard fork or replay of transactions.
The outage highlights ongoing scalability challenges for Ethereum's rollup ecosystem, even as Base maintains a leading position among L2s by TVL. No regulatory action has been announced, but such incidents often draw scrutiny from watchdogs monitoring infrastructure reliability in the crypto sector.
Base's market cap dominance among L2s remains stable despite the brief dip in confidence, though the event briefly dragged ETH price sentiment. Competitors like Arbitrum and Optimism may capitalize on reliability concerns.
In a separate pivot, Story Protocol rebranded as the DATA Foundation, shifting from intellectual property to AI training data. The project, which raised $140 million led by a16z crypto, is migrating its $IP token to $DATA at a one-to-one ratio and has integrated data marketplace Kled, registering 1.1 billion user records. The move comes after the original $IP token fell 98% from its peak.