Base

Jesse Pollak owns the Base App's social miss, unpacks Robinhood Chain's rise, and explains Brian Armstrong's memecoin moment. ======================================================== Thank you to our sponsor! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Cape⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED). ======================================================== Jesse Pollak spent the week owning a very public miss. In a lengthy post, the Base creator admitted the Base App's social bet had not worked, leaving Base behind in perps, prediction markets and tokenization, and handed the app's reins to Jordan Fish, better known as Cobie. Pollak joins Laura Shin to unpack why the pivot happened now, what he makes of Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's memecoin controversy over a token called $BRIAN, and how Base plans to compete as Robinhood Chain outpaces it on daily active users, according to Artemis data. They cover Base's move off Optimism's stack onto its own Azul, Beryl and Cobalt upgrades, a roadmap toward 20,000 transactions per second under the new B20 stablecoin standard, and the x402 agentic payments protocol already handling roughly 90% of Base's transaction volume. Pollak argues less than 1% of the world uses crypto, and that Base's bet is on whoever builds the trusted rails first. Host: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Laura Shin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, Host / Unchained Guests: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jesse Pollak - Creator of Base Timestamps 🗞️ 01:48 Why Jesse Pollak feels 'fired up' despite Base App's social miss 🧭 03:58 Pollak on why the timing was wrong for Base App's social bet 💳 05:42 Cape: Get 33% off six months of privacy-first mobile service at https://cape.co/unchained 🖼️ 06:39 Pollak on Brian Armstrong's Coinbaseman meme coin controversy 🏎️ 10:43 How Pollak plans to compete as Robinhood Chain overtakes Base in DAUs 🤝 12:53 Why Coinbase's distribution edge matters for onboarding new users 🔀 15:37 Why Pollak handed the Base App to Cobie to focus on the chain 🌉 18:20 Why Base App is expanding beyond Base to Solana and Bitcoin ⚙️ 21:05 Base's Azul, Beryl and Cobalt upgrades and its new B20 standard 🔐 24:27 Base Ledgers, agentic payments and privacy in Pollak's roadmap Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

The internet is broken for creators, and Base thinks it has the fix. Jesse Pollak joins Bankless to unveil the Base app, a crypto-powered everything app where posts earn, creators own, and mini apps go viral. From meme coins to market-based social media, this might be the start of a new onchain economy. —- 📣BANKLESS TV | BASE DAY https://x.com/BanklessHQ/status/1948769160932327886 —- BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙FRAX | SELF SUFFICIENT DeFi https://bankless.cc/Frax 🦄UNISWAP | SWAP ON UNICHAIN https://bankless.cc/unichain 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle 🌐BINANCE | THE WORLDS #1 CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/binance 🦎 COINGECKO API | REAL-TIME CRYPTO PRICE & MARKET DATA https://bankless.cc/coingecko —- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 1:04 The Vision of BASE 3:11 The Everything App 6:10 The Future for Creators 10:13 Earning Through Engagement 14:29 Crafting the Perfect Content 20:54 The Rise of Mini Apps 23:59 Monetization and the Free Market 25:52 Addressing Creator Concerns 29:23 Closing Thoughts on BASE —- RESOURCES Jesse https://x.com/jessepollak Base https://x.com/base —- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

On Tuesday, JPMorgan announced that its blockchain unit is launching JPMD, a USD deposit token for institutional clients, on Base. That’s right: the world’s biggest bank by assets and the 12th largest company by market cap is putting real dollars onchain. JPMD isn’t quite a stablecoin, but it’s close. It represents actual dollar deposits at JPMorgan and will be used by institutional clients for blockchain-based transactions. The bank plans to run a pilot over the coming months and eventually expand it to other user groups and currencies, pending regulatory approval. To understand what this means for the broader crypto ecosystem (and why JPMorgan chose Base), we brought on Jesse Pollak, head of Base and Coinbase Wallet. In this episode, Jesse explains: Why JPMorgan (and Shopify) chose Base What deposit tokens are, and how they differ from stablecoins Why infrastructure is finally “ready” for institutions How Base scaled from 2.5 million to 35 million gas/sec What’s next for Coinbase users who’ll have one-tap access to onchain assets And Jesse’s response to the critics who said that Coinbase doesn’t give enough credit to Ethereum Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Ledn FalconX Jesse Pollak, Head of Base and Coinbase Wallet Unchained:  JPMorgan to Pilot ‘JPMD’ Token on Base Coinbase and Amex Team Up on Bitcoin Card as Exchange Reveals Broad Expansion Plans Comments on Bloomberg by Naveen Mallela, global co-head of the bank's blockchain division Kinexys by JPMorgan Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 🏦 1:49 What JPMD actually is 🔧 4:26 Why Jesse believes infrastructure is finally ready for institutional adoption 📊 7:03 Whether Base can handle global scale 💵 9:24 How JPMorgan plans to use deposit tokens in real-world blockchain transactions ⚖️ 11:22 Whether deposit tokens are a better model than stablecoins 🛠️ 16:59 Why JPMorgan chose to launch on Base instead of other chains 📉 19:00 How recent events served as a wake-up call for fintech and commerce 📲 22:22 Why Jesse is hyped about seamless access to onchain assets inside Coinbase 📈 25:47 How Coinbase plans to manage the chaos of token pumps and dumps 🌐 27:54 Jesse’s take on the criticism that Coinbase doesn’t show Ethereum enough love Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

This week on Unchained: two big stories, one episode. First, Jesse Pollak, head of Coinbase’s L2 Base, joins to unpack the chaos behind the viral “Coined It” memecoin moment, a tweet-turned-token that hit $17M in an hour, crashed, then rebounded, igniting a firestorm on Crypto Twitter. Was it a media experiment or a botched launch? Was there insider trading? And why does Jesse think coins are the future of creator monetization? Then, we dive into Converge, the recently announced chain backed by Ethena and Securitize, aiming to bridge TradFi and DeFi. Carlos Domingo and Guy Young explain what makes Converge technically novel, why they’re building on Arbitrum and Celestia, and how it could reshape the onchain landscape for institutions. Also in this episode: Whether Jesse regrets greenlighting the Base post The future of creator coins and tokenized assets How Converge plans to prevent hacks and improve UX And why Converge isn’t just about migrating existing assets, but “expanding the pie” Thank you to our sponsors! Bitkey: Use code UNCHAINED for 20% off FalconX Mantle Part 1 Jesse Pollak, Head of Base and Coinbase Wallet On Wednesday, Coinbase’s layer 2 network Base posted a tweet that read: “Base is for everyone,” followed by a tweet: “Coined it.” That second tweet linked to a page where the post had already been turned into a coin. Within an hour, the coin hit a $17 million market cap, then dropped to under $2 million, then went back up to over $13 million. Crypto Twitter exploded. Some called it a rug. Others accused insiders of sniping the launch. Coinbase later issued a statement saying that Zora auto-tokenizes content, but Jesse Pollak, head of Base, tweeted that he personally greenlit the post. So what really happened? In this episode, Jesse sits down with Laura to discuss: Whether this was a memecoin launch or a media experiment Why he thinks the crypto community overreacted Whether insider trading occurred And why he believes coins, not NFTs, are the future of creator monetization Plus, he explains why he’s okay being the “punching bag.” Part 2 A month ago, Converge was announced as the new chain backed by Ethena and Securitize, aiming to become a home for tokenized assets and institutional capital. On Thursday, the teams behind it released the full technical specs. From validator-triggered circuit breakers to 100ms block times and support for yield-generating private credit, Converge is pitching itself as the chain for both TradFi and DeFi. In this episode, Securitize’s Carlos Domingo and Ethena’s Guy Young join Unchained to explain what’s actually novel in this architecture, why they chose Arbitrum and Celestia, and what it will take for institutions to get comfortable onchain. Plus:  What Converge means for Ethereum and other L2s Whether gas tokens like USDe and USDtb solve real UX problems How they plan to prevent bridge-based hacks And why this isn’t just about migrating existing assets, but “expanding the pie” Guest Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize Guy Young, founder of Ethena Labs Links Previous coverage of Unchained on Ethena: After an Incredible 2024 for USDe, Ethena Plans to Supercharge Growth Ethena’s USDe Grew to $2 Billion in 7 Weeks. Is It Safe? How Ethena’s USDe Challenges Traditional Stablecoin Models Unchained:  Tokenized T-Bills Grow Despite Trump Tariffs Causing U.S. Treasuries Sell-off Tokenized Treasuries Grow 20X Faster Than Stablecoins as Crypto Market Languishes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

Carlos Domingo

CEO

Securitize

Guy Young

CEO and Founder

EthenaEthena Labs

Do you think you’ve got what it takes to become a founder in crypto? On the show today we’ve got 8 of crypto’s most famous and successful builders in crypto, each with about 15 minutes in time, giving you the wisdom they gained founding their own companies. We’re joined by Jesse Pollack from Base, Jeremy Allaire from Circle, Anatoly from Solana, Stani from Aave, Kain from Synthetix, Mike & Jason from Blockworks, Kevin Owocki from Gitcoin and Lucas from Jito. Each one with their own perspectives, their own scars and hopefully by listening to this episode, you, the listener, can learn from their experiences to gain the confidence you need to venture into this world. ------ 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24  https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🪙 FRAX | SELF SUFFICIENT DeFi https://bankless.cc/Frax  🦄UNISWAP | BUG BOUNTY PROGRAM https://bankless.cc/Uniswap-Bug-Bounty  ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM ⁠https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum   🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle  🌐 CELO | BUILD TOGETHER AND PROSPER https://bankless.cc/Celo  ------ ✨ Mint the episode on Zora ✨ https://zora.co/collect/base:0x4be6cd4d402fed49eb2de95fbc8e737e8ffd3e7f/8?referrer=0x077Fe9e96Aa9b20Bd36F1C6290f54F8717C5674E  ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 2:52 Jesse Pollack - Base 15:45 Jeremy Allaire - Circle 34:53 Anatoly Yakovenko - Solana 51:00 Stani Kulechove - Aave 1:07:48 Kain Warwick - Synthetix 1:27:06 Mike & Yano - Blockworks 1:44:16 Kevin Owocki - Gitcoin 1:59:19 Lucas Bruder - Jito ------ RESOURCES Jesse Pollack - Base https://x.com/jessepollak   Jeremy Allaire - Circle https://x.com/jerallaire   Anatoly Yakovenko - Solana https://x.com/aeyakovenko   Stani Kulechove - Aave https://x.com/StaniKulechov   Kain Warwick - Synthetix https://x.com/kaiynne   Jason Yanowitz - Blockworks https://x.com/jasonyanowitz   Mike Ippolito - Blockworks https://x.com/MikeIppolito_   Kevin Owocki - Gitcoin https://x.com/owocki   Onchain Capital Allocation Handbook  https://allobook.gitcoin.co/   Lucas Bruder - Jito https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucasbruder/   ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures ⁠

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

Jeremy Allaire

Co-Founder and CEO

Circle

Anatoly Yakovenko

CEO & Co-founder

Solana LabsSolana

Stani Kulechov

Founder

AaveLens ProtocolAave LabsAvara

Kain Warwick

Founder

SynthetixInfinexBodhi Ventures

Mike Ippolito

Co-Founder

Blockworks

Jason Yanowitz

Co-Founder

Blockworks

Kevin Owocki

Founder

GitcoinSupermodular

Lucas Bruder

CEO

Jito Labs

While it's still early in the race, Base is now one of Ethereum’s largest L2s.  In today’s episode, we brought back on repeat guest and co-creator of Coinbase’s L2, Base, Jesse Pollak.  We cover: - How Base plans to bring billions of users onchain - How Base is increasing its scale by 400x - How Coinbase is using Base to be more onchain  - Onchain Summer II ------ 📣 TRANSPORTER - SECURED BY CHAINLINK CCIP | TRY IT OUT transporter.io ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2     ⁠   🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle   🌐 CARTESI | APPLY FOR A GRANT https://bankless.cc/CartesiGovernance  🔗CELO | CEL2 COMING SOON https://bankless.cc/Celo   🏠 CASA | SECURE YOUR GENERATIONAL WEALTH https://bankless.cc/Casa   🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION https://bankless.cc/toku   ⚖️ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM ⁠https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 4:41 Base’s First 8 Months 9:23 The Road to 1 Giga Gas Per Second 18:39 Why More Demand For Base?  21:26 Cost to Send Transactions on Base 23:59 Non-Ethereum DA Solution? 25:59 Scaling Via L3s on Base? 27:17 Parallelization Solution? 29:34 Will Base Make Transactions Free? 38:18 Coinbase's Relationship With Base  46:18 Base Is Centralized Critique  50:17 The Base Flywheel 57:46 Onchain Summer II  58:36 Next Target Demo to Come Onchain 1:00:42 Base Independence 1:02:19 1 Billion People Onchain 1:03:25 Closing & Disclosures ------ RESOURCES Onchain Summer II https://www.base.org/   Jesse Pollak https://twitter.com/jessepollak   Jesse’s 1st Base Episode https://youtu.be/7dGU0_eEjq8   Coinbase https://twitter.com/coinbase   Base https://twitter.com/base   ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Ethereum’s long-awaited Dencun upgrade finally went live this week, and many L2s immediately saw their transaction fees fall dramatically, as was the intention. Among them was the Coinbase-incubated Base, which was created by Jesse Pollak. Pollak joined Unchained to discuss the impact Dencun was having on Base; how he thinks Layer 1s and Layer 2s will start to differ from one another and eventually spawn a multitude of specialized Layer 3s; his response to criticisms of the increasing use of Layer 2s, what he’s focusing on now, and why he supports using the word “onchain” over “crypto” or “web3.”  Show highlights: The problem that Dencun is trying to solve The benefits of blobs and blobspace How Dencun has already reduced Base’s fees, but also increased its transactions How Jesse thinks Layer 1s and Layer 2s will start to become differentiated from each other The rise of Layer 3s How Jesse addresses criticisms of fragmentation and centralization arising from the increasing use of Layer 2s Why Jesse is particularly excited about two features of the Dencun upgrade—transient storage and increased composability between L1s and L2s What Jesse and the Base team are focusing on now Why Jesse thinks that “onchain” is a better word to describe the industry than “crypto” or “blockchain” or “web3”  Thank you to our sponsors! iTrustCapital Polkadot Uniswap Guest Jesse Pollak, creator of Base at Coinbase Previous appearances: The Chopping Block: All About That Base With Jesse Pollak  Links Recent coverage on Unchained of the Dencun Upgrade and Base:  Dencun Day One: Ethereum Layer 2 Networks See Drastic Drop in Transaction Fees Ethereum Completes Milestone Dencun Upgrade, Which Should Substantially Reduce Fees How Much Will the Dencun Upgrade Really Reduce Ethereum Layer 2 Fees By? Why Base’s Creator Thinks Social Apps Will Be a ‘Huge Part’ of the Layer 2 Blockchain’s Success CoinDesk: Debating Dencun: Will Ethereum's Big Update Help or Harm the Network? Jesse’s tweets on Dencun October 2022  January 2024 March 13, 2024  Blobs / Proto-danksharding EIP-4844 proposal Blobs unleashed: Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade activates on mainnet  Base says it will support EIP-4844 from 'day 1' following Dencun upgrade  Ethereum stans are putting the Bee Movie on blobs for as little as $5 Superchain Decentralizing Base with the OP Stack and Optimism  Base’s Commitment to Decentralization with the Superchain  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

On today’s episode we brought on repeat Bankless guests, Ben Jones, Co-Founder of Optimism and Creator of Base, Jesse Pollock.  ------ ✨ DEBRIEF | Ryan & David unpacking the episode: https://www.bankless.com/debrief-superchain  ----- Base! Coinbase’s Layer 2 has almost hit 1 million users in 2 weeks. It has more transactions per second than Ethereum mainnet. Jesse digs into the magnitude of this development. Base chain was built on Optimism’s tech stack. This is just 1 chain of many thousands we’ll see over the coming years. How do we tie them all together? Ben dives into all things Superchain. The Superchain is how we bring 1 billion people onchain. ----- 🏹 Airdrop Hunter is HERE, join your first HUNT today https://bankless.cc/JoinYourFirstHUNT  ------ 📣 SAFE CORE | Smart Wallet Infrastructure https://safe.global/core  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE ⁠https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2  ⁠ 🦊METAMASK PORTFOLIO | MANAGE YOUR WEB3 EVERYTHING ⁠https://bankless.cc/MetaMask  ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM ⁠https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  ⁠ 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle  ⁠ 🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE ⁠https://bankless.cc/uniswap   👾STADER LABS | ETHX LIQUID STAKING https://bankless.cc/Stader  ----- TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 7:42 Base Launch Reflection  9:53 Optimism’s Reflection  11:35 Coinbase x Optimism Collaboration 17:14 OP Stack Incentives  23:43 Base’s Impressive Numbers  26:26 Explaining the Superchain   31:40 Why Join the Superchain?  33:55 The Law of Chains  45:26 The Coinbase Onchain Formula 51:15 Base Part of Optimism Governance  58:40 What About Other L2s?  1:04:56 Optimism Collective’s Fee  1:08:25 The Tech Behind the Superchain 1:13:34 Superchain Timeline  1:15:45 Fault Proofs 1:18:36 Risk Profile of Base     1:22:15 Optimism’s Governance Minimization  1:24:10 Wen Fault Proofs & Stages  1:30:00 How Many Clients Does Optimism Have?  1:33:36 Near Term Focus For Base 1:37:01 Near Term Focus For Optimism 1:38:27 Closing & Disclosures  ----- RESOURCES Jesse Pollock https://twitter.com/jessepollak  Ben Jones https://twitter.com/ben_chain  The Law of Chains https://gov.optimism.io/t/law-of-chains-v0-1-full-draft/6514  ----- Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures ⁠

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

Ben Jones

Co-Founder

OptimismOptimism FoundationData Literacy

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and Robert Leshner chop it up about the latest news. This week, Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak talks about the ambitious goals of Base, the new Optimism–based blockchain from the publicly traded crypto giant. With the viral success of Base-based Friend.Tech, Jesse discusses the Base team’s ambitious goals to onboard “a million builders, a billion users.” Is this the long-heralded path to scaling Ethereum? Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show highlights:  why Jesse says it’s still “day one” for Base the reason behind Base’s “one million developers, one billion users” slogan what the advantages of Base are compared to other layer 2 blockchains how Base accounts for the fact that it doesn’t have a token to incentivize developer activity how MEV bots represent a big part of the transactions on Base, especially with the emergence of Friend.Tech why Friend.Tech found early success despite being similar to previous efforts  Jesse’s response to the fact that fault proofs are not live on any of the OP Stack chains how much of the revenue generated by Coinbase’s sequencer will be distributed to Optimism whether Base and Optimism Mainnet compete with each other  how layer 2 chains are choosing different design paths and how that differentiates them Hosts Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly  Robert Leshner, founder of Compound Tom Schmidt, general partner at Dragonfly  Tarun Chitra, managing partner at Robot Ventures Guest Jesse Pollak, lead contributor at Base Disclosures Links Unchained: Coinbase Launches a New Layer 2 on Ethereum CoinDesk: Social Platform Friend.tech Gains 100K Users in Days Even in Depths of a Bear Market TechCrunch: Friend.tech hype is skyrocketing, but will it actually reach the stars? Decrypt: Base Daily Transactions Outpace Ethereum on Friend.tech Frenzy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

Jesse Pollak is the creator of Base, which is a Layer 2 scaling solution from Coinbase that launched last week. Base has quickly become a trending topic this summer, attracting more than $200M of value in its short life. Coinbase is the world’s second-largest crypto centralized exchange by volume, and now it’s moving to the on-chain world, so it’s worth watching. In our conversation, we dive into the origin story of Base, why opt for a Layer 2 and not start a new Layer 1, why go for Optimistic rollups, how Base is unique in the already crowded Layer 2 space, their decentralization road map and more.

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

In today's episode, Santi is joined by Jesse Pollak, a Base contributor. Base is an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) chain incubating inside of Coinbase with plans to progressively decentralize the chain over time. They discuss Coinbase role in the ecosystem, account messaging & abstraction, privacy approach, and ecosystem growth trajectories.  - -  Follow Jesse: https://twitter.com/jessepollak  Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz  Follow Santiago: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel  Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod  Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j  Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7  Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw  Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news.  Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/  - -  Use code EMPIRE30 to get 30% off Permissionless 2023 in Austin: https://blockworks.co/event/permissionless-2023  - -  Timestamps:  (00:00) Base: High Level Overview  (07:08) Base Neutrality  (10:25) Base Bridging  (13:52) Base dApp Development  (19:15) Base Privacy Approach  (21:27) Permissionless Ad  (22:54) Base Value to Coinbase Revenue  (25:57) Coinbase Wallet Adoption  (30:32) User Incentives  (37:05) Onchain Identity  (41:25) Bald Meme Coin Season  (46:13) Real Consumer Experiences on Base  (48:44) Sequencer Decentralization  (51:53) Onchain Messaging  (58:42) USDC Importance  - -  Resources  Introducing Base https://www.coinbase.com/blog/introducing-base https://base.mirror.xyz/lt3JR-mZ51q9eIOtGO36L3ZVzCTXmZVnbIiXz6crqzQ Onchain Summer https://www.coinbase.com/blog/celebrate-onchain-summer-with-coinbase Prop House https://prop.house/base - -  Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

Today on the show we welcome back Jesse Pollak. Jesse is the Head of Protocols at Coinbase and the Creator of Base. Base plays the important role of trailblazing the future of Layer 2's and doesn't let it's centralized parent get in the way of innovation. Can Base be the spark that kicks off "Layer 2 Summer"? ------ 🚀Join Ryan & David at Permissionless in September. Bankless Citizens get 30% off https://bankless.cc/GoToPermissionless  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE ⁠https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2  ⁠ 🦊METAMASK PORTFOLIO | TRACK & MANAGE YOUR WEB3 EVERYTHING ⁠https://bankless.cc/MetaMask  ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM ⁠https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  ⁠ 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle  ⁠ 👾POLYGON | VALUE LAYER OF THE INTERNET https://polygon.technology/roadmap  🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION https://bankless.cc/Toku    ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 9:00 Public Perception of Base 10:12 Why is Base a Big Deal? 14:34 Investing in Decentralization 16:11 Trailblazing for an Entire Industry 20:52 A New Level Of Collaboration 23:41 Contributing Fees to Public Goods 30:46 Layer 2 Summer 35:17 Wen Mainnet? 42:07 Onchain vs On-Chain 45:07 Closings and Disclaimers ----- RESOURCES Jesse Pollak https://jessepollak.com/  Build on Base https://base.org/  ------ Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

This episode of The Scoop was recorded with Jesse Pollak, the creator Coinbase's Base network, live from the Ethereum Community Conference in Paris. Outline: 00:44 Crypto 'builder energy' 03:09 The L1 trade 05:07 Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2 06:45 Maturing beyond speculation 11:03 Technical obstacles to building 15:16 ZK vs. OP scaling solutions

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

This week on The Defiant podcast, Tegan Kline hosts Jesse Pollak, senior director of Engineering at Coinbase, Eva Beylin, the director of the Graph Foundation, and Ben Jones, the director of the Optimism Foundation, to give us a deep dive into the launch of Base, Coinbase's recently-launched Layer 2 blockchain. Base is an Ethereum Layer two that offers a secure, low-cost, developer-friendly way for anyone anywhere to build decentralized applications. In this episode, we talk about the evolution of Base from inside a Fortune 500 company, the importance of decentralized tools like the Graph and Optimism, and the importance of thinking positive sum, not zero-sum. Jesse discusses decentralization inside a centralized company and how Coinbase plans to onboard millions of dapps and a billion users. Thanking our podcast sponsors: web3 with a16z is a chart-topping podcast about the next generation of the internet, from a16z crypto. Click here to listen now. This episode is brought to you by Orbs Layer-3. Trade DeFi like a pro using decentralized TWAP order type on SpookySwap, SpiritSwap, and Pangolin. Learn more: https://www.orbs.com/dtwap/

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

Eva Beylin

Director

The Graph FoundationeGirl Capital

Ben Jones

Co-Founder

OptimismOptimism FoundationData Literacy

Jesse Pollock, Senior Director of Engineering at Coinbase, joins us to unpack some of the hottest news in crypto since The Merge!  Coinbase announces the launch of “Base,” their own L2 built on the OP Stack. Tune in to hear everything you need to know about Base!  ------ 📣 MetaMask Learn | Learn Web3 with the Leading Web3 Wallet https://bankless.cc/  ------ 🚀 JOIN BANKLESS PREMIUM:  https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/subscribe  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:  🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/kraken  🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE https://bankless.cc/uniswap  ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  👻 PHANTOM | #1 SOLANA WALLET https://bankless.cc/phantom-waitlist  ------ Topics Covered 0:00 Intro 7:53 Coinbase’s New Chain? 8:45 What is Base?  9:36 How is Base Different? 11:16 How Open is Base? 13:05 Why Now?  17:00 ETH L2 Philosophy  20:00 2nd Mover Advantage & Success Metric 22:26 Total Coinbase Users 25:15 How Base Will be Used By Coinbase Users 29:35 $COIN 31:13 Could Base Canoblize Coinbase?  32:35 Regulation  35:30 Base Token?!  40:26 Validator Set  39:10 Sequencer Power 40:53 Timeline  42:55 Basechain Vision  48:55 Why OP Stack? 52:57 Jesse as a Badge Member   54:47 Gas-Free Percentage 56:22 Superchain Vision 58:46 KGZ Ceremony  1:00:41 What Does Successful Base Look Like?  1:06:13 Closing & Disclaimers  ------ Resources: Jesse Pollak (jesse.xyz) https://twitter.com/jessepollak  Coinbase https://twitter.com/coinbase  ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

Breaking News: Coinbase is launching an L2 on Ethereum called Base! Jesse and Will from Coinbase join us to discuss the news and paradigm shift for Coinbase. We explore why Coinbase is building Base, how Coinbase chose to use the OP tech stack, Base's value proposition, how Coinbase thinks about "competition" building on Base, if Base will have a token and more! -- Timestamps: (00:00) Introduction (00:45) Base: Coinbase’s on-chain journey (05:02) Why build Base? (10:10) Leveraging the OP stack (19:10) Why now? (24:41) Base’s value proposition (35:27) Controlling the stack (41:10) Will Base have a token? (44:05) Building a bridge, not an island (46:54) What will Coinbase build on Base? (51:05) What is Base’s business model? (54:34) A culture shift and the on-chain future - - Follow Jesse: https://twitter.com/jessepollak Follow Will: https://twitter.com/willrobinson23 Follow Jason: https://twitter.com/JasonYanowitz Follow Santi: https://twitter.com/santiagoroel Follow Empire: https://twitter.com/theempirepod Subscribe on YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/4fdhhb2j Subscribe on Apple: https://tinyurl.com/mv4frfv7 Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/wbaypprw Get top market insights and the latest in crypto news. Subscribe to Blockworks Daily Newsletter: https://blockworks.co/newsletter/ - - Resources The Coinbase Secret Master Plan https://www.coinbase.com/blog/the-coinbase-secret-master-plan - - Disclaimer: Nothing said on Empire is a recommendation to buy or sell securities or tokens. This podcast is for informational purposes only, and any views expressed by anyone on the show are solely our opinions, not financial advice. Santiago, Jason, and our guests may hold positions in the companies, funds, or projects discussed.

Jesse Pollak

Creator of Base

BaseCoinbase

Will Robinson

VP of Engineering

Coinbase