In the recent X discussion, Ripple CTO David Schwartz placed emphasis on the general misconceptions about Base, Coinbase's Layer-2 platform.
Coinbase Clo Paul Grewal pointed out a general misconception about the basic platform. In a tweet, Grewal said that L2 framing sequencers such as replacement bases misrepresent their market function. The sequencer acts as “air traffic control” for the blockchain, employing unordered transactions and organizing them.
To clear this misconception, Grewal offers the definition of SEC exchange as a market for connecting buyers and sellers of securities. Grewal added that L2S is a general purpose blockchain that acts as an infrastructure. These process messages handle code (smart contract call) and all transactions (payments, calls, messages) as batches, and postpone official orders or interaction/matching rules (AMM, CLOB, auctions) to the app's smart contract and frontend.
Coinbase Clo explains his points further using illustrations of off-chain infrastructure such as AWS. Similar to the base, infrastructure like AWS runs the code provided by developers. This code includes deterministic payments, calls, messages and exchanges. “If the exchange was performed on AWS, is AWS a replacement? Obviously not,” Grewal asked.
Ripple CTO weight
The bottom line of Grewal's foundation is: The L2 sequencer scales Ethereum computing and enables scalable, secure on-chain transactions that enable a wide range of applications in the new global economy. He added that misconceptions of L2 sequencers may spread FUD and overlook the important role they play in scaling.
The CPU does not perform AML. Amazon Cloud Hosting does not run KYC or AML on system process endpoints or transaction endpoints.
– David 'Joelkatz' Schwartz (@Joelkatz) September 23, 2025
Ripple CTO David Schwartz joined the X conversation, supporting the points created by Coinbase Clo Paul Grewal with an illustration of off-chain infrastructure.
Schwartz said: “The argument is that sequencers are no different to hosting a CPU or cloud. It just does exactly agreed mathematics without the right or ability to impose other rules on the data it processes.”
In response to X users, Schwartz added: “The CPU does not AML. AmazonCloud Hosting does not run KYC or AML on payment endpoints or system process endpoints.”
In recent developments, Ripple provided an update on the XRP ledger institutional debt roadmap. This recently entered the agency's top tier with a $1 billion monthly Stablecoin volume and top 10 RWA activities.
