Key Takeaways:
Coinbase-incubated Ethereum Layer 2 network Base will activate its second major upgrade, Beryl, on mainnet June 25, introducing a native token standard built directly into node software and cutting the standard withdrawal window to Ethereum by two days.
The B20 standard runs as a Rust-based precompile inside Base's node software rather than as onchain EVM bytecode, the team wrote in a blog post. It implements the full ERC-20 specification with ERC-2612 permits, making it a drop-in replacement for existing wallets and exchanges. Two variants launch alongside Beryl: a general-purpose asset token and a stablecoin-specific version with fixed six-decimal precision.
"B20 is a precompiled contract — its logic is written in Rust and runs directly inside the node software instead of as onchain EVM bytecode," Base's engineering team said. The standard ships with an Issuer Toolkit covering role-based access control, mint and burn functions with optional supply caps, and a freeze-and-seize mechanism built for regulated issuers. The code was audited internally and by Spearbit, with a future update planned to let issuers pay gas fees in their own B20 tokens instead of ETH.
Beryl also shortens the standard withdrawal delay from Base to Ethereum to five days from seven, building on the Multiproofs system introduced with the Azul upgrade in May. That system already created a same-day path when both a trusted execution environment and a zero-knowledge proof confirm a transaction, but the ZK proof remains expensive to generate, Base said. The upgrade instead targets the more commonly used single-proof path, narrowing the delay's purpose to catching a faulty prover rather than waiting out a full dispute window.
The upgrade ships Reth V2, an updated version of the Rust-based execution client that has been Base's sole client since Azul. The update reduces disk usage across full, minimal, and archive nodes and gives room to raise block gas targets without straining sequencer or RPC infrastructure, expanding available blockspace for developers.
Beryl arrives roughly four weeks after Azul's mainnet activation, a pace Base credited to its February move away from a shared dependency on Optimism's OP Stack toward its own unified technology stack. The next upgrade, Cobalt, is targeted for September and is expected to introduce native account abstraction with built-in gas sponsorship and transaction batching, alongside additional B20 functionality and a unified node binary.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
