Jesse Pollak leads Coinbase Base, which enables 1 cent transactions on Ethereum. We discuss the motivation behind Base, monetization for creators & companies, local stablecoins, network states, and the Base Batches session at Network School. If you're building on Base, apply to Network School at https://ns.com. OUTLINE 0:00 - Intro to Jesse 1:56 - Is Base a coinless chain? 3:58 - What is the problem that Base solves? 10:00 - The opportunity to build a global economy 19:12 - Blockspace is the fundamental constraint of crypto 25:04 - Equity-backed assets on Base 32:34 - Base Batches at Network School 43:18 - How does crypto relate to network states? 48:09 - Balaji’s advice for young builders CITATIONS (1) Base batches: https://www.basebatches.xyz/ (2) Base: https://www.base.org/ (3) What are smart contracts: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/smart-contracts.asp (4) Coinbase exchange API: https://www.coinbase.com/developer-platform/products/exchange-api (5) Layer 1 vs Layer 2 blockchains: https://www.investopedia.com/what-are-layer-1-and-layer-2-blockchain-scaling-solutions-7104877 (6) Ethereum average gas price: https://etherscan.io/chart/gasprice (7) Plasma scaling strategy: https://www.plasma.io/plasma.pdf (8) A rollup-centric Ethereum roadmap: https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/a-rollup-centric-ethereum-roadmap/4698 (9) How do optimistic rollups work: https://www.alchemy.com/overviews/optimistic-rollups (10) Introducing the OP stack: https://optimism.mirror.xyz/fLk5UGjZDiXFuvQh6R_HscMQuuY9ABYNF7PI76-qJYs (11) Building Base for the long term: https://base.mirror.xyz/HwG1GQ5hoxz0OTOF_nQhNcVTk4Ae9cRIrcqVQ14N4-c (12) Farcaster: https://www.farcaster.xyz/ (13) Blackbird blockchain restaurant: https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2025/02/26/blackbird-blockchain-restaurant-loyalty-app-goes-live-with-flynet-mainnet (14) Moxie Marlinspike’s first impressions of Web3: https://moxie.org/2022/01/07/web3-first-impressions.html (15) Blockspace is rapidly increasing but costly and finite: https://x.com/balajis/status/1479863075301834755 (16) Local stable coins on Base: https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1907497929218338835 (17) Coinbase plans to tokenize $COIN: https://cryptobriefing.com/coinbase-tokenized-securities-revival/ (18) Network School Fellowship: https://ns.com/fellowship (19) Visualizing crowd sizes: https://blog.lime.link/visualizing-crowd-sizes/ (20) Crypto civilization vs crypto anarchy: https://x.com/balajis/status/1452203482912632835 (21) Bundling and unbundling: https://fintechtakes.com/articles/2023-06-16/the-only-way-to-win-is-to-not-play/ (22) Digital divide: https://www.investopedia.com/the-digital-divide-5116352 (23) Global steel production visualized: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-50-years-of-global-steel-production/ (24) China leads growth of robot stock: https://www.statista.com/chart/31337/new-installations-of-industrial-robots-by-country/ (25) Drone manufacturers by market share: https://arc-group.com/china-thriving-drone-industry/ (26) How China became the worlds largest car exporter: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/29/business/china-cars-sales-exports.html (27) China’s BYD overtakes Tesla: https://www.statista.com/chart/31496/global-battery-electric-vehicle-deliveries-sales-tesla-byd/ (28) BYD pulls ahead of Tesla to become largest EV maker: https://www.statista.com/chart/33709/tesla-byd-electric-vehicle-production/ (29) Complete list of unicorn companies globally: https://eqvista.com/complete-list-unicorn-companies/ (30) Daily hours spent with digital media per adult user: https://www.mediaculture.fr/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/internet-trends-2018-report-Mary-Meeker.pdf (31) Centralization, decentralization, recentralization: https://x.com/balajis/status/1248678143218466818 (32) Foundation: https://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0553293354 SOCIAL https://www.basebatches.xyz https://ns.com
This discussion with Jesse Pollak of Base on microtransactions was organized by Network School. Apply online at https://ns.com.