The Base network is preparing a revolutionary Beryl update: B20 standard and withdrawal acceleration.
The team behind Coinbase's L2 solution, the Base network, has officially announced the long-awaited upgrade under the codename Beryl. The activation of the upgrade on the mainnet is scheduled for June 25. The testnet is already operational, allowing developers to test key innovations in advance.
The main technological breakthrough of Beryl will be the implementation of the B20 standard. Unlike traditional smart contracts, B20 logic is embedded directly into the software code of validator nodes. This fundamentally changes the approach to token creation: they become significantly faster and cheaper to operate. Critically, B20 is fully compatible with the classic ERC-20 format. This means that new assets issued under this standard will be seamlessly supported by all major wallets and centralized exchanges without the need for additional integrations.
At launch, developers will be offered two ready-made templates: one for stablecoins and one for standard digital assets. In the future, the B20 standard will enable the payment of transaction fees directly in the tokens themselves, completely eliminating the need to use ETH for gas fees. Additionally, a twofold increase in network throughput is expected.
The upgrade will also address one of the main issues of L2 networks — the long withdrawal time. The time required to transfer assets from Base to Ethereum will be reduced from seven to five days. This became possible due to the transition to the Multiproofs proof system, which optimizes the verification process.
The technical part of the upgrade includes the implementation of the Reth V2 client. The new version will significantly reduce the load on node disk space and speed up block processing, which is critical for network scaling.
It is already known that the next major upgrade, named Cobalt, is planned for September. It is expected to introduce native account abstraction, which will simplify the user experience and open up new use cases.
Expert opinion: The B20 standard is not just another improvement, but a fundamental shift in L2 architecture. Embedding token logic at the node level could become a catalyst for creating high-performance DeFi protocols and next-generation stablecoins. If the Base team manages to implement what has been announced without issues, we will witness a significant redistribution of liquidity within the Ethereum ecosystem.