Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, has announced a new service that will allow institutional clients to borrow crypto assets from its platform. The service, called Coinbase Lending, is designed to provide liquidity and flexibility for investors who want to leverage their crypto holdings for various purposes.
According to a blog post by Coinbase, the lending service will initially support USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, and Bitcoin (BTC), the most popular and valuable cryptocurrency. Coinbase Lending will offer competitive interest rates and flexible terms, as well as the security and reliability of Coinbase’s custody and trading infrastructure.
Coinbase Lending is part of the company’s broader vision to create an open financial system that empowers people and businesses around the world. By enabling institutional clients to access crypto lending, Coinbase hopes to foster innovation and growth in the crypto ecosystem, as well as provide more opportunities for its customers to benefit from the potential of digital assets.
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In a different twist, Coinbase-incubated Base has experienced a stall in block production on its mainnet network. The incident occurred on September 5, 2023, at around 23:00 UTC, and lasted for about two hours. According to the Base team, the root cause of the stall was a bug in the consensus algorithm that prevented validators from reaching agreement on the next block.
The Base team said that they have identified and fixed the bug, and that they are working on restoring the network to normal operation. They also assured users that no funds were lost or compromised during the stall, and that all transactions will be processed once the network resumes. The team apologized for the inconvenience and thanked the community for their patience and support.
Base is a project incubated by Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. Base aims to provide a scalable, secure, and interoperable platform for developing decentralized applications (DApps) that can run on any blockchain. Base uses a novel consensus mechanism called Proof-of-Space-Time (PoST), which leverages storage resources to secure the network and reward participants. Base also supports cross-chain communication and interoperability through its Base Bridge protocol, which allows users to transfer assets and data across different blockchains.
Proof-of-Space-Time is still an emerging technology that faces some challenges, such as plot generation time, storage cost, and network synchronization. However, it is also a promising solution that could enable more efficient, secure, and inclusive blockchain networks in the future.
Base launched its mainnet network in July 2023, after conducting several testnet phases and audits. The project has attracted a lot of attention and investment from both the crypto and the mainstream sectors, as it promises to enable a new wave of innovation and adoption in the decentralized space. However, the recent stall in block production has raised some concerns about the reliability and security of the platform, especially as it competes with other established and emerging smart contract platforms such as Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, and Polkadot.
Coinbase Lending is currently in beta and available to a select group of institutional clients. The company plans to expand the service to more customers and more crypto assets in the future. Interested clients can sign up for early access on Coinbase’s website.
