Base Activates B20 Token Standard on July 8 After Sequencer Outages

Coinbase-backed Ethereum Layer 2 network Base activated the B20 token standard on mainnet at 6 pm UTC on July 8. The standard enables developers to create native stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and other fungible tokens without building custom ERC-20 contracts. B20 supports two variants—an asset variant with configurable decimals between 6 and 18, and a stablecoin variant with fixed 6-decimal formatting that requires fiat denomination specification. According to Base documentation, the standard includes built-in issuer controls for supply limits, transfer rules, minting, burning, pausing, and transaction notes.

The activation comes after Base experienced two sequencer outages in late June lasting over 116 minutes combined, temporarily halting block production. The incidents raise infrastructure reliability concerns as institutional stablecoin issuers and asset platforms typically require strong uptime guarantees before committing to new chains.