Base Financials
Revenue
The total amount an ecosystem generates from operations before any operator payments are deducted.
- Network REV: Network REV (Real Economic Value) is the measure of user demand to transact on a blockchain. It consists of all transaction fees and out-of-protocol tips paid for transaction execution. In the case of Base, there are no out-of-protocol tips, so all REV is generated by in-protocol transaction fees, of which there are three types.
- L1 Fee: Covers the cost of submitting L2 transactions to Ethereum mainnet L1. It fluctuates based on Ethereum mainnet's network congestion.
- L2 Base Fee: The minimum fee required for a transaction to be included in a block, dependent on the Base's network congestion.
- L2 Priority Fee: An additional fee paid to prioritize a transaction within a block. OP Stack chains like Base rely on priority ordering, where higher paying transactions are executed first, so priority fees enable sophisticated users to effectively bid for inclusion.
Operator Payments
The value paid to the infrastructure providers responsible for running the network, such as posting transaction data and stateroots to the L1.
- L1 Data: The sequencer batches L2 transactions, compresses them, and submits them to the L1 to ensure the transaction data is accessible for verification and dispute resolution. This category includes both the cost of L1 transactions and blobs.
- L1 Settlement and Other: A state root is a cryptographic hash representing the current state of the L2 blockchain. The state root is posted to the L1 to enable the L1 to verify the correctness of L2 state transitions, which is used to verify the legitimacy of the bridge withdrawal requests.
Gross Profit
The value remaining after subtracting the Operator Payments from Revenue, measuring the efficiency of executing user transactions and securing the network.
Other Expenses
- Optimism Collective: As part of its membership in the Optimism Superchain, Base has a revenue share agreement with the Optimism Collective. Base contributes the greater of 2.5% of total sequencer revenue (Network REV) or 15% of its net onchain sequencer revenue (Network REV less L1 Operator Payments) to the Collective.
- Coinbase Take Rate: Under the current construction of Base, all net income (after accounting for the Optimism Collective Fee) accrues to Coinbase.
Token Holder Net Income
The excess Revenue that accrues to token holders net of all Operator Payments and Other Expenses.
In the case of Base, there is no Token Holder Net Income as there is no token related to Base. Coinbase is the beneficiary of any net income, as noted by the Coinbase Take Rate in Other Expenses.