Base's engineering team announced on Thursday that the Beryl upgrade has been deployed to the Sepolia testnet, with mainnet activation scheduled for June 25. The upgrade introduces B20, a protocol-level token standard that allows stablecoins and other assets to be issued directly within Base’s node software, while remaining fully compatible with the ERC-20 standard.
B20 tokens operate as precompiled contracts written in Rust, executing directly in the protocol rather than through the EVM. This reduces overhead and potentially improves performance. They support ERC-2612 permit functionality, enabling token holders to authorize spending via cryptographic signatures without separate approval transactions. Base noted that existing wallets and exchanges supporting ERC-20 can integrate B20 assets without modification.
The upgrade includes an Issuer Toolkit with role-based permissions, minting and burning controls, supply limits, transfer restrictions, and freeze/seize capabilities—features aimed at regulated issuers. Issuers can choose between a general-purpose asset model and a stablecoin-specific model with six-decimal precision and a customizable currency code. Base stated that the token logic was audited by Base and security firm Spearbit. Future updates may allow transaction fees to be paid with B20 tokens instead of ETH.
Beryl also reduces the standard withdrawal period from Base to Ethereum from seven days to five days for the route used by most bridging providers. This follows the Azul upgrade in May, which introduced Multiproofs—a system combining trusted execution environment proofs and zero-knowledge proofs for faster one-day withdrawals. However, limited adoption of the faster path due to high gas costs prompted the team to focus on optimizing the common withdrawal route.
Additional infrastructure improvements come through the integration of Reth V2, the latest Rust-based execution client. This reduces storage requirements for full, minimal, and archive nodes and enables higher block gas targets without straining sequencer or RPC infrastructure.
Base attributed the faster release cycle to its February decision to move away from Optimism’s OP Stack and operate on its own unified technology stack. The network plans its next upgrade, Cobalt, for September, which will introduce native account abstraction, gas sponsorship, transaction batching, and more B20 enhancements.
