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Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 incubated by Coinbase, deployed its second upgrade, Beryl, to the Base Sepolia testnet on Thursday and scheduled mainnet activation for June 25. The upgrade cuts the standard withdrawal delay to Ethereum from seven days to five and introduces B20, a native token standard for issuing stablecoins and other assets directly inside Base's node software, per a blog post from the network's engineering team.
Why it matters
B20 is built to be a drop-in replacement for the existing ERC-20 stack. The standard implements the full ERC-20 specification, includes ERC-2612 permits so holders can approve spenders with a signature rather than a separate transaction, and ships with an Issuer Toolkit covering role-based access control, mint and burn functions with optional supply caps, granular transfer policies, and a freeze-and-seize mechanism. What makes it structurally different is execution: a B20 token is a precompiled contract — its logic is written in Rust and runs directly inside the node software instead of as onchain EVM bytecode. Two variants launch at mainnet, a general-purpose asset version and a stablecoin version with fixed six-decimal precision and an issuer-defined currency code. Code was audited by Spearbit, and future updates are planned to let issuers pay gas in their own B20 tokens rather than ETH.
The withdrawal change builds on Multiproofs, the TEE-plus-ZK finalization system Base activated with Azul in May. Multiproofs already created a one-day finalization path when a TEE and a ZK proof agree, but that path sees little use in practice because generating the ZK proof is costly. Beryl instead targets the slower single-proof path that most bridging providers rely on, narrowing the legacy seven-day window — originally built so challengers could dispute withdrawals under Base's older fault-proof system — to five days by reframing the delay as a window for detecting and disabling a faulty prover. The upgrade also ships Reth V2, the latest version of Base's sole execution client, reducing disk usage across full, minimal, and archive nodes and raising block gas targets without overloading the sequencer or RPC layer.
Frequently asked questions
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What is Base's Beryl upgrade and when does it go live on mainnet?
Beryl is Base's second independent upgrade, deployed to the Base Sepolia testnet on Thursday with mainnet activation scheduled for June 25. It ships the B20 token standard, shortens standard withdrawals to Ethereum from seven days to five days, and includes the Reth V2 execution client update.
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What is the B20 token standard and how is it different from ERC-20?
B20 implements the full ERC-20 specification plus ERC-2612 permits, so it is compatible with existing ERC-20 wallets, exchanges, and indexers. The structural difference is execution: a B20 token runs as a precompiled contract with Rust logic embedded in the node software, rather than as onchain EVM bytecode.
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How does Beryl change the withdrawal process from Base to Ethereum?
Beryl shortens the standard Base-to-Ethereum withdrawal window from seven days to five days for the single-proof path most bridging providers use. The cut builds on Multiproofs from the Azul upgrade, which reframed the legacy delay — originally built for challenger disputes under Base's older fault-proof system — as a…
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Who is the B20 token standard designed for?
B20 is built with regulated issuers in mind. The Issuer Toolkit adds role-based access control, mint and burn functions with optional supply caps, granular transfer policies, and a freeze-and-seize mechanism. Two variants ship at launch: a general-purpose asset version and a stablecoin version with fixed six-decimal…
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What is the next Base upgrade after Beryl?
Cobalt is targeted for September and is expected to introduce native account abstraction with protocol-level gas sponsorship and transaction batching, additional B20 features, and a unified node binary that combines Base's consensus and execution clients.
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