Base
How Base settles a payment
Base is Coinbase’s layer 2 and one of the cheapest places to be paid in dollars. Two things surprise people: it has no token of its own — you are paid in Ether, and Ether is what covers the fee — and, as on Polygon, there are two different things here called USDC.
Everything shared with the other EVM networks — why one address works on all of them, what gas pays for, what a layer 2 is, and what actually happens when a payment lands on the wrong chain — is on the EVM networks page. This one covers only what is specific to Base. Networks
Two seconds, and falling
Base produces a block every two seconds whether or not anyone is transacting, so a payment appears almost immediately and the 12 confirmations this product waits for pass in well under a minute.
That figure is worth treating as current rather than fixed. Base has since introduced Flashblocks, which cuts the effective time a user waits from two seconds to around two hundred milliseconds — so anything you read describing this chain at a flat two seconds is already describing the slower half of the story.
Underneath, Base is a layer 2: it runs transactions itself and posts the data back to Ethereum, where the record ultimately settles. For a payment that difference shows up as a lower fee rather than as anything you have to handle — the money arrives at your address on Base, and Base is the network you watch.
What a payment costs here
Gas works as it does on every EVM chain, and the mechanism is on the EVM networks page. What is specific to Base is how little it comes to: being a layer 2 is precisely what makes the fee small, and it is one of the cheapest ways to move dollars on this site.
The usual caveats hold. A token transfer costs more than sending Ether itself, fees climb when the chain is busy, and a payer holding only USDC with no Ether cannot send until they have a little.
What this network carries
Ether and a dollar stablecoin. Rendered from the live catalogue rather than written here — and the first of the two is not what people expect.
- ETHThe network’s own currency
- Ether — the same asset as on Ethereum mainnet, on a different network. Base has no token of its own: nothing to buy, nothing to hold, nothing to price an invoice in. If somebody offers you a Base token, there is not one. Ether is what an invoice settles in here and what the fee is paid with.
- USDCThe dollar rail
- USDC with six decimals, and the one that matters is the native version — issued by Circle, fully reserved, and redeemable one-for-one for dollars with Circle itself.
Because Base has the same two-USDC problem Polygon does, spelled differently. Before Circle issued natively here, the only version was USDC bridged from Ethereum, and it still exists under the ticker USDbC — not USDC.e, which is what the bridged one is called on Polygon. So somebody who learned to watch for USDC.e will not recognise this. USDbC is not issued by Circle and is a different token at a different contract address, so paying it against an invoice priced in native USDC is sending the wrong asset.
Which customers this network fits
Worth it for
- Dollar-priced invoices where you want the lowest fee available on this site.
- Customers already holding funds on Base, particularly anyone coming from Coinbase.
- Small and frequent payments, for the same reason.
Better suited elsewhere
- Invoices in USDT — it is not enabled on this network here; use Ethereum, BNB Chain or Tron.
- Customers whose funds already sit on another chain; meet the money where it is.
- Anything that needs Ethereum mainnet specifically, for the contracts around it.
What to plan for
The one to design against is a customer paying in USDbC when the invoice expects native USDC. It looks close enough to be convincing, and it is a different token. It is worth asking any customer paying from a long-held Base balance to check which they hold before they send.
- Expect to be asked about a Base token, because the assumption is common. There is not one, and an invoice here is priced and paid in Ether exactly as it would be on Ethereum mainnet.
- The rest is shared with every EVM network: a payment on the wrong chain, a payer with no native currency for gas, and fees that move with demand. All three are on the EVM networks page.
- Once confirmed, a payment cannot be reversed by anyone, including us. That is the protection against chargebacks, and the reason a mistaken send has to be settled between the two people involved.
Questions
Is there a Base token?
No. Base does not have a token of its own, and there is nothing to hold or price an invoice in. Payments here settle in Ether, and Ether is what covers the network fee — the same asset as on Ethereum mainnet, on a different network.
Why are there two kinds of USDC on Base?
Because USDC reached Base by bridge before Circle issued it here directly. The bridged version carries the ticker USDbC and is not issued by Circle; the native one is, and is redeemable with Circle. Worth noting that Polygon has the same split but calls its bridged version USDC.e, so the two chains spell the same trap differently.
Which USDC does an invoice here settle in?
The native one — the version Circle issues. USDbC is a separate token at a separate contract address, so a payment in it will not settle an invoice priced in native USDC.
How long does a Base payment take to confirm?
Blocks arrive every two seconds, so the 12 confirmations this product waits for pass in well under a minute. Base has also introduced Flashblocks, which cuts the effective wait to around two hundred milliseconds — so treat any flat two-second figure, including the one above, as the base layer rather than what a payer experiences.
Does being a layer 2 change anything about being paid?
Not in what you do. Base runs transactions itself and posts the data to Ethereum, where they ultimately settle, and the practical effect is a lower fee. The money arrives at your address on Base, and Base is the network to watch for it.
Sources
Every figure on this page comes from one of these documents. Each was read on the date shown rather than recalled.
Try the flow with test money first
Create an invoice on a test network, pay it with faucet funds, and watch detection and confirmation arrive as two separate events — the same pair you will build against in production.
Start free