According to Odaily Planet Daily, Vitalik Buterin stated in a post on the X platform that Base, as an L2 platform built on Ethereum, enhances user experience through centralized features while relying on Ethereum's decentralized underlying infrastructure for security. Base lacks custody of funds and cannot steal user assets or block withdrawals, which aligns with the L2 beat definition of Stage 1. He noted that if L2 ceases to operate, users can still automatically retrieve their funds through Ethereum contract logic; furthermore, there are existing cases demonstrating that L2 can prevent operators from censoring transactions. Vitalik emphasized that L2 is an extension of Ethereum, not a custodial server, and that user funds are ultimately controlled by Ethereum L1 and cannot be stolen or frozen by L2 operators.