We've been heads-down building Base chain support for Sacred, and we wanted to share where things stand. This isn't a launch announcement — Base isn't live in production yet. But the work is real, the contract is deployed on testnet, and we're learning a lot about what decentralized tipping infrastructure should look like.
Why Base
Sacred already supports Polkadot, Solana, and WAX. Adding Base gives us access to Ethereum's ecosystem on a fast, low-cost L2 — and more importantly, it opens up a UX that's genuinely different from what we've built before.
Base comes with ERC-4337 smart wallets out of the box, which means users can create a wallet with just a passkey — no browser extensions, no seed phrases, no gas tokens to acquire. Combined with Coinbase's paymaster infrastructure, every transaction can be gas-sponsored. The user pays only the tip amount, nothing extra.
That's the bar we're aiming for: tipping that feels as simple as sending a message.
SacredEscrow: Our Own Smart Contract
Early on, we evaluated existing solutions — off-the-shelf payment protocols, token streaming contracts, basic escrow templates. None of them fit what we needed. We wanted on-chain identity per deposit, flexible fee structures, and the ability to upgrade the contract as we learn more about how people actually use it.
So we built SacredEscrow — a UUPS-upgradeable smart contract purpose-built for tipping. It handles the full lifecycle: deposit, claim, revoke, and expiry. Fees are collected upfront at deposit time (not at claim), so recipients always know exactly what they're getting. The contract is pausable, upgradeable, and designed to be the foundation we build on for years.
It's deployed on Base Sepolia right now. We're iterating on it in testnet before moving to mainnet.
On-Chain Identity
This is the part we're most excited about. Every deposit in SacredEscrow stores the sender and recipient's platform identity on-chain — not just wallet addresses, but which platform they're on (Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, etc.) and their platform-specific ID.
Why does this matter? Because it means the relationship between a tip and its creator exists on the blockchain, not just in our database. It opens the door to things like:
- Decentralized dispute resolution — anyone can verify who a deposit was intended for
- Cross-platform reputation — a creator's tipping history is publicly verifiable
- Transparency — the full escrow state is visible to anyone, not locked behind an API
We're still early in exploring what this enables. But the conviction is clear: the more we can put on-chain, the less you have to trust us. That's the direction we want to push.
Gasless Tipping
Every user-facing transaction on Base will be fully gas-sponsored. When you send a tip, the gas is covered by Coinbase's paymaster — you only pay the tip amount. When you claim a tip, the server handles the on-chain transaction for you. No gas tokens, no approval popups, no surprise fees.
This is powered by a combination of ERC-4337 account abstraction and a server-side relayer that submits claim and revoke transactions on behalf of users. The relayer signs attestations using EIP-712 typed data, and the contract verifies the signature on-chain before releasing funds. It's trustless where it matters and seamless where it counts.
Where We Are
Here's the honest status:
- Smart contract — deployed on Base Sepolia testnet, fully functional
- Server integration — escrow verification, attestation signing, transaction verification, and the chain adapter are all built
- Wallet infrastructure — attester and relayer wallets are set up and working
- Production — not yet. We're testing, iterating, and making sure everything is solid before we flip the switch
We're not rushing this. Getting the contract right matters more than shipping fast, because once it's on mainnet with real funds, the cost of mistakes goes up dramatically.
What's Next
Our near-term focus is finishing the integration testing on Sepolia, wiring up the client-side deposit flow, and getting through a security review. After that, mainnet deployment.
Beyond launch, we're exploring subscriptions via Spend Permissions — a way for fans to set up recurring tips to their favorite creators without needing to approve each one manually. That's a separate track, but it builds on the same smart wallet infrastructure we're putting in place now.
We'll share more as we get closer. For now, we wanted to pull back the curtain and show you what we've been building — and why we believe owning our on-chain infrastructure is the right call for the long run.
Thanks for following along. Find us on Twitter and Discord — we'd love to hear what you think.