Base Exits Optimism Superchain as OP Token Falls 89.8% From March 2024 Peak of $4.85

Base has left the Optimism Superchain to unify its codebase, accelerate major upgrades from three to six per year, independently control its security committee, and reduce external dependencies, Coinbase said in a February 18, 2026 blog post. The OP token fell 28% within 48 hours of the announcement with selling volume up 157%, trading at $0.12, down 89.8% from its March 2024 high of $4.85, while OP Labs CEO Jing Wang described the move as a blow to short-term onchain revenue. Base had contributed 96.5% of gas fees flowing to the Optimism Collective by January 2026 and 8,387 ETH out of roughly 14,000 ETH received over the collaboration's lifetime, as its transaction volume reached around four times that of OP Mainnet, DEX volume about 144 times higher, and gas fee output 80 times greater. After Base's departure, Optimism retains $1.5 billion in TVL on OP Mainnet and secured a migration from ether.fi bringing 70,000 active cards, 300,000 accounts, and over $160 million in TVL along with an estimated $13 million in annualized fees, but this compares to Base generating $55 million in profit in 2025 as ongoing token unlocks of about $32 million per month continue and the revenue base for a buyback program allocating 50% of sequencer revenues to OP repurchases has effectively disappeared.