Base activates Cobalt with conditional transactions and B20 controls

Base activated its Cobalt upgrade on mainnet on Sept. 30, adding conditional transactions and new controls for B20 token issuers, according to The Block’s report on the launch. The update lets users submit transactions that become eligible for inclusion only when specified conditions are met, while giving issuers additional ways to set transfer rules and manage assets.

How do Cobalt’s conditional transactions work?

Validity Transactions are signed transactions paired with conditions on Base’s chain state. Base holds them until every condition matches, after which they compete for inclusion under normal fee rules, according to Base’s Cobalt upgrade documentation.

A trader could, for example, submit a swap that becomes eligible only if a pool price reaches a specified level before a set block, The Block reported, citing Base. If the condition is not met by the deadline, the transaction is not included. Base’s documentation says the conditions are submitted separately and do not appear onchain.

What new controls does Cobalt add to B20?

Cobalt adds composite policies, scheduled multiplier updates and a seizeWithMemo function to B20, Base’s token standard. Composite policies let issuers combine existing allowlists and blocklists with AND or OR logic, The Block reported; for example, an issuer could require a recipient to satisfy both an identity check and an accreditation list.

Scheduled multiplier updates let issuers change how an asset’s balance is displayed at a future time, such as for a stock split. Cointelegraph reported that the display can change without minting or burning tokens or altering the underlying balance. BaseHub’s documentation says existing Beryl integrations keep their selectors and event identities, so they continue to work.

The new seizure function lets an authorized administrator reassign a holder’s balance and attach a memo to the transaction, The Block reported. The function must be enabled by the issuer; BaseHub’s documentation says a token with no configured seizure capability cannot use it. The change gives issuers an onchain way to record an authorized recovery or transfer.

What is next for Base after Cobalt?

Base said it plans over the coming months to reduce block times from two seconds to 200 milliseconds, add protocol-level support for sponsored transaction fees and bundled transactions, and adopt some changes planned for Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade, according to The Block. BaseHub’s documentation lists the 200-millisecond block work under a later upgrade, Denim, rather than Cobalt.