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Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum layer 2 network, just cleared two significant milestones in quick succession. The Beryl network upgrade activated on mainnet on June 25, and the B20 Native Token Standard followed independently on July 8, together marking what the team describes as a foundational shift in how tokens get issued on the network.
What Beryl actually changed
The Beryl upgrade went live on June 25 at 18:00 UTC, and it brought one immediately noticeable improvement: withdrawal delays dropped from 7 days to 5 hours.
Beryl also shipped performance improvements to Reth V2, the execution client Base runs. Reth V2 is a Rust-based Ethereum client known for its throughput efficiency, and the Beryl enhancements push that performance further.
The upgrade sits in a sequence. Base ran the Azul upgrade in May 2026, Beryl followed in June, and a Cobalt upgrade is already on the roadmap.
The B20 standard: ERC-20, but different under the hood
The B20 Native Token Standard launched on July 8 at 18:00 UTC. The standard is implemented as Rust precompiles directly within the node software itself, rather than as deployable smart contracts. The result is still ERC-20 compatible, meaning existing wallets, exchanges, and tooling can interact with B20 tokens without modification.
B20 ships with two initial token variants. The ‘Asset’ type supports configurable decimal precision, anywhere from 6 to 18 decimal places. The ‘Stablecoin’ variant fixes decimals at 6, which is consistent with how USDC and USDT are structured.
Built for compliance from day one
The most strategically revealing part of B20 is the built-in Issuer Toolkit. It ships with role-based access control, transfer policies, and supply caps as native features rather than optional add-ons a developer has to bolt on themselves.
As of the July 8 launch, no specific tokens had been issued under the B20 standard. The current focus is on establishing the framework itself.
What this means for investors and builders
The 5-hour withdrawal window, down from 7 days, directly addresses one of the most persistent complaints about layer 2 bridges. Capital that previously had to sit locked for a week can now move in an afternoon.
The compliance toolkit in B20 is the bigger long-term signal. Stablecoin issuers operating under frameworks like the EU’s MiCA regulation or the evolving US stablecoin legislation need exactly these kinds of built-in controls. A token standard that ships with transfer restrictions and role-based permissions by default reduces the compliance burden significantly compared to one that requires custom smart contract engineering to achieve the same result.
Real-world asset tokenization projects now have a native standard on Base that includes supply caps and configurable permissions, which are requirements for tokenizing assets such as treasury bonds or real estate funds.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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