Base’s TPS claim may be inflated by counting failed transactions

Coinbase’s layer 2 network, Base, has been making headlines for its high transaction-per-second throughput compared to Solana.

Jesse Pollak, the firm’s head of protocols, shared on April 9 that Base had achieved a transaction per second (TPS) range of 300 to 400 with no issues.

Despite this, real-time data from Chainspect shows the network’s TPS at 26.8, with a peak at 292. Contrarily, L2Beat, a layer-2 ecosystem analytics platform, highlighted that Base’s average TPS peaked at 37 on April 8, significantly surpassing Ethereum’s (ETH) 14 TPS.

The conversation around Base’s performance has ignited discussions within the crypto community. A trader, Wazz, responding to Pollak, suggested that Base’s TPS was on par with the Solana network, known for its high TPS but also a high rate of failed transactions.

Helius Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz critiqued Pollak’s figures, pointing out the exclusion of failed transactions in Base’s data, with the largest Base block showing 94% failed transactions, adjusting the actual TPS to 41.

The discourse unfolds amid broader debates between Ethereum’s layer 2 solutions supporters and Solana’s (SOL) network, which has faced challenges with network congestion and reliability issues.

Meanwhile, Base has seen its total value locked (TVL) soar to $2 billion, driven by a meme coin frenzy. However, an analysis revealed that over 90% of new meme coins on Base had security vulnerabilities, and 17% were considered scams.