Base’s Denim upgrade has cut the interval between canonical blocks to 200 milliseconds, giving applications more frequent updates and making fixed block-count timers expire sooner.
The change took effect Thursday, Nov. 5. Before Denim, Flashblocks gave applications an early view of transactions before a block was completed; that preview was not necessarily the same as the final block contents.
Applications can now get updates at the new pace through standard remote procedure call (RPC) interfaces. That reduces the need for a separate Flashblocks feed or code to compare early transaction views with completed blocks.
BaseTime gives smart contracts millisecond-level elapsed-time measurements, which can support trading, auctions and order expirations. The block.timestamp field still measures time in seconds.
For B20, Base’s token standard, Denim adds a NOT operator to compliance rules and applies transfer-executor checks when holders send tokens themselves. It also bars transfers, mints and seizures from being directed to the token contract’s own address.
Lending protocols and decentralized exchanges can respond to market moves more often, including through liquidations and rebalancing. Any application that measures time by counting a fixed number of blocks will now pass that threshold in one-tenth as long.
