Base says its Azul upgrade is now live on mainnet, marking a concrete infrastructure change for one of Ethereum's largest Layer 2 networks.

The upgrade is not just a branding release. Base's node-operator documentation says Azul requires a new supported stack: base-reth-node for execution and base-consensus for consensus. Operators running op-node, op-geth, op-reth, nethermind, or kona are told those clients will not support the network upgrade and must migrate.

For operators already using OP Reth through Base's node repository, the migration path is lighter: Base says updating to the latest version will automatically use base-reth-node, and the existing reth-data directory remains compatible without a full resync or snapshot restore.

The public-facing pitch is speed and security. Base's announcement framed Azul as making the chain faster and more secure, while CoinMarketCap's summary points to multiproof security and decentralization-related changes. The safest reading is that Azul is an infrastructure hardening step, with the immediate operational impact falling on node operators rather than end users.

That still matters. Base is increasingly positioned as Coinbase's settlement and application layer for global payments, stablecoins, and onchain apps. A mainnet upgrade that narrows the supported client path gives the network a more controlled base layer, but it also makes timely operator migration part of the upgrade's success.