Coinbase’s Base Launches Solana Bridge Using Chainlink CCIP

Coinbase’s Base has launched a Solana bridge using Chainlink CCIP, enabling asset transfers between the networks now that it’s live on mainnet.

The open-source bridge, announced in a Dec. 4 Base blog post, lets users move assets both ways and trade tokens across Base and Solana, with integrations already live in Zora, Aerodrome, Virtuals, Flaunch and Relay.

Powered by a bespoke cross-chain oracle, Coinbase and Chainlink CCIP (Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol) node operators verify messages independently for secure cross-network transfers, Base said. That ensures that the transfers between Solana and Base “are safe and reliable.” 

“This is a major step towards our goal for Base to serve as a hub for the everything economy: every asset, across every network, at any time, and Solana is just the beginning,” the Base team said.

A “Range Of Cross-Chain Experiences” Unlocked

Base said in its blog post that the bridge “opens up a range of new cross-chain experiences.” 

Base builders can now integrate with the bridge to support assets and tokens native to the Solana network within their apps. 

Users will also be able to trade and use assets across the blockchains in apps that have plugged into the bridge “regardless of whether they’re on Base or Solana,” the team said.  

Anyone will be able to bridge assets between Solana and Base as well to make them tradable and usable on both networks. 

Developers that want to integrate with the new cross-chain bridge can visit the project’s official Github repository. 

The bridge has been made open-source, which means that the code is publicly accessible and anyone is able to view, use, modify, and distribute it. Teams often open-source their code to foster collaboration.

The decision to open-source the bridge aligns with the Base team’s goal to “build a global economy” that is “interoperable and connected.” 

Base The Fifth-Largest Blockchain By TVL

Base was launched by Coinbase in 2023, and has since seen exponential growth. 

Data from DefiLlama shows that Base has become the fifth-biggest blockchain overall in the market in terms of total value locked (TVL).  

Top blockchains by TVL (Source: DefiLlama)

With a decentralized finance (DeFi) TVL of more than $4.57 billion, Base is ranked just one position below Bitcoin, the oldest network in the Web3 space. 

Ethereum leads the market, with its DeFi TVL of more than $70 billion. In second place is Solana (SOL), which has over $9 billion locked on its network. 

Base’s top-5 ranking in TVL comes even though the network is one of the few blockchains in the space that does not have its own token. However, the team have ignited speculation that this may change after Coinbase executive and Base head Jesse Pollak said earlier this year that a token would eventually be launched. 

Following the announcement of the bridge, the price of Solana plummeted over 5%. This coincided with a broader crypto market pullback in the past 24 hours, which saw the space’s total capitalization slip over 2%, data from CoinMarketCap shows. 

SOL’s 5% correction, along with ADA’s similar-sized drop, was the biggest 24-hour loss in the top ten list of the largest cryptos by market cap.