All Segments
Jesse Pollak on Coinbase Base
32 segments available
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
Segments Timeline
Philosophical Foundations of Base
Jesse Pollak discusses the philosophical evolution of his views on community building, reflecting on his journey from libertarianism to a more progressive approach. He emphasizes the importance of bridging different political philosophies to create a better world, setting the stage for the introduction of Base as a platform for innovation.
"Jesse, welcome to New York State podcast. Thanks for having me. You and I have kind of had an ongoing sort of philosophical discussion for many years on how um libertarians can learn from progressives..."
The Coinless Chain Concept
Pollak explains the unique aspect of Base being a coinless chain, where there isn't a native asset. He discusses how this approach allows for a more open and accessible platform, challenging the traditional notion that blockchains must have a native coin to function effectively.
"Go ahead. Yeah. No, I mean I think that one of the things I've always felt about Bass is that um we just got incredibly lucky in having a name that we could borrow from Coinbase that kind of brought o..."
Building a Global Onchain Economy
Jesse Pollak outlines the vision behind Base, aiming to create a global onchain economy that enhances economic freedom and innovation. He shares insights from his experience at Coinbase and the necessity of transitioning to an onchain model to accelerate crypto adoption.
"details of how Bass works. Yeah, I mean from the beginning of base, one of the thesis that we had was um if we just focused on building a really great product that solved problems for developers and c..."
The Evolution of Base
Pollak reflects on the iterative process of developing Base, highlighting the lessons learned from previous product failures. He emphasizes the importance of creating a platform that not only serves Coinbase but also benefits a wider audience, fostering a decentralized ecosystem.
"solve? I I know this is super basic but you know go 100%. I I've been at Coinbase for 5 years. Uh Bali and I got to overlap when he was CTO. It was some of the most you know powerful learning experien..."
Decentralization as a Core Principle
In this segment, Pollak discusses the commitment to decentralization in Base's architecture. He explains how a decentralized platform is essential for building a global economy that is not controlled by any single entity, ensuring trust and neutrality for all users.
"initial conception of Bass. It was let's build the platform that enables Coinbase to make this transition. And then once we started doing that, we were like okay, well, if we're going to build this fo..."
Expanding the Crypto Verbs
Pollak elaborates on the concept of 'verbs' in the crypto space, emphasizing the need for a broader range of actions beyond just buying and selling. He discusses how Base enables developers to create new functionalities, enhancing the capabilities of the onchain economy.
"presentations you gave when you were at Coinbase where you were talking about you know, how do we get more verbs crypto verbs for people to do? Uh, and this was like a thing that Baji says like we hav..."
The Role of Smart Contracts
This segment focuses on the significance of smart contracts in the Base ecosystem. Pollak explains how smart contracts serve as the 'verbs' that facilitate various transactions and interactions on the blockchain, contributing to the expansion of the onchain economy.
"chain to buy to sell to borrow to lend to do all of these things that have historically been very complex very expensive and very kind of uh locked out uh for a lot of people in the traditional world...."
Technical Architecture of Base
Pollak provides an overview of the technical workings of Base as an Ethereum layer 2 solution. He explains how Base processes transactions efficiently while maintaining decentralization, allowing for cost-effective and scalable operations.
"onchain data right so so now help me understand how does base work technically how does it work in terms of validation of blocks and so forth let me understand that yeah absolutely and and before I ju..."
Understanding Optimistic Rollups
In this segment, Pollak introduces the concept of optimistic rollups, explaining how Base utilizes this technology to batch transactions and submit them to Ethereum. He discusses the trust model and the mechanisms in place to ensure the integrity of the transactions.
"how do we do that? Base is built as an Ethereum layer 2. If you don't know what Ethereum is, Ethereum is the most secure, decentralized, scalable L1 platform for uh writing smart contracts. But one of..."
Transaction Integrity and Censorship Resistance
In this segment, Pollak elaborates on the mechanisms that ensure transaction integrity within Base's optimistic rollup framework. He highlights the importance of allowing users to submit transactions directly through Ethereum to prevent censorship and maintain user trust.
"thing I was actually researching and I was just thinking is like how many disputes have actually had well first why don't you describe how how do optimistic roll-ups work for somebody who doesn't know..."
Modular Security in Base
Pollak discusses the modular security design of Base, which incorporates various proving mechanisms, including optimistic rollups and zero-knowledge proofs. He emphasizes the goal of reducing trust in the system while enhancing decentralization and security.
"there's not just one way to transact on the chain. If you were kind of just able to go through the sequencer, one of the concerns would be, okay, you can only go through the sequencer. What if the seq..."
Progressive Decentralization Goals
Jesse Pollak outlines Base's commitment to progressive decentralization, explaining the stages of decentralization defined by Vitalik Buterin. He shares the team's progress from stage zero to stage one and their plans for future decentralization efforts.
"we'll end up with base in the in the next year or so is rather than having one mechanism that's securing base we'll actually have more knowledge, you have TE, you have you have some degree of TE, you ..."
Building Blocks of Base
In this segment, Pollak discusses the ongoing efforts to decentralize the block-building process on Base. He introduces the concept of builder decentralization and how it will enhance competition and efficiency within the network.
"decentralized platform that anyone can build on. And then from here, we're going to be doing more work to get to stage two. Um that involves kind of getting to this multi-rover environment uh where yo..."
Social Applications on Base
Pollak highlights the vibrant social applications being built on Base, particularly focusing on Farcaster, a rapidly growing on-chain social network. He discusses the significance of social products and creator platforms in driving user engagement and economic activity.
"decentralization to the sequencer. Awesome. Now, what kinds of things can people do on bass? Can they do anything they can do on any L2? Uh, are there unique things like what, you know, what kinds of ..."
Blockspace as a Fundamental Constraint
Jesse Pollak draws parallels between blockspace in crypto and bandwidth in the early internet. He explains how Base addresses the limitations of blockspace, enabling a broader range of applications and economic activities on the blockchain.
"then I'd say there's a long tale of other use cases. You know, we have Blackbird uh which is building um uh kind of restaurants onchain and onboarded hundreds of restaurants in the United States. Um w..."
Building a Global On-Chain Economy
In this segment, Pollak discusses Base's mission to create a global on-chain economy. He emphasizes the importance of local currency stablecoins and the infrastructure needed to support economic growth and innovation on the platform.
"space that's available. That's what L2s do in general and how much more block space is there and what kinds of things can go on chain and what do you think is still in feasible for example fire caster..."
Innovative Use Cases on Base
Pollak shares insights on the various applications and surprising use cases of Base, including its integration with Farcaster and Zora. He explains how these platforms are evolving to create interconnected social economies, where content is valued as coins, thus enhancing user engagement and creator monetization.
"And so that's kind of the tier that Bass is working on. It's like our mission is to build a global onchain economy that increases innovation, creativity, and freedom. I think there will be a lot of ot..."
The Future of On-Chain Assets
In this segment, Pollak addresses the potential of equity-backed and real-world assets on Base. He discusses the confusion surrounding asset valuation in crypto and expresses excitement about the normalization of on-chain assets, predicting a future where all assets are traded on a unified market platform.
"be a place where people can come on chain, uh, get started, find things to do, buy a coin, but then stick around to do a lot more. Um, Zora, I think, is another, uh, you know, pretty fast growing soci..."
The Impact of On-Chain Trading
Pollak elaborates on the transformative potential of bringing traditional assets on-chain, such as equities and real estate. He believes this shift will enhance product experiences and create a more integrated market, allowing for global trading and access to assets for everyone with an internet connection.
"because it's a coinless coin, right? Or it's a coinless chain, right? Where do you think we're going to go with equitybacked assets, real world assets other kinds of things on base or or in general, r..."
Legal Pathways for On-Chain Assets
Discussing the importance of legal frameworks, Pollak highlights the need for clear pathways to bring assets like Coinbase's stock on-chain. He argues that establishing these legal structures is crucial not only for Coinbase but for the entire crypto ecosystem, as it will help integrate traditional and digital asset markets.
"enabler. But the second thing that I'm really excited about is I think it's going to normalize a little bit onchain as a market where instead of having this bifurcation where you have like the onchain..."
The Future of Financial Systems
Pollak shares his vision for the future of financial systems, predicting a shift towards a fully on-chain economy. He emphasizes that as more assets transition online, it will create opportunities for businesses and individuals worldwide, ultimately leading to a more equitable global economy.
"reason for that, which is it's not so much about just the ass, it's about the legal pathway, right? Uh whether it's done as a Wyoming DA, whether it's done as, you know, a Tennessee DAO, whether it's ..."
Introducing Base Batches at Network School
In this segment, Pollak introduces Base Batches, a program designed to empower builders and creators to develop applications on-chain. He discusses the collaboration with Network School, emphasizing the importance of mentorship, education, and community in fostering innovation and bringing diverse talents together to shape the future.
"So, you know, it's funny. I don't know if you remember there's another diagram that I drew in 2018 2019 when when we were working together which showed a bunch of boxes and it was like fiat currency t..."
The Unique Experience of Network School
Pollak shares his experience at Network School, describing it as a unique environment where motivated individuals come together to create innovative solutions. He reflects on the high agency of students and the collaborative spirit that drives the exploration of new societal structures connected by the internet.
"internet. And so getting to be there this fall, getting to experience that getting to see how big a bet that Bology was making on this future and how unafraid he was and all these other people that we..."
Network School Fellowship: Empowering Global Talent
The Network School Fellowship aims to empower talented individuals from around the world, providing them with resources and opportunities to develop their projects. Pollak explains the fellowship's focus on inclusivity and internationalism, allowing participants to level up their skills and contribute to the tech ecosystem.
"network school scholarship so can you just give me like a high level overview like what is the network school what is the network school scholarship totally okay So network school takes, have you hear..."
Innovative Learning: The Learnathon Concept
Pollak introduces the concept of a Learnathon, a focused learning event designed to help participants complete online courses in a structured environment. He emphasizes the importance of offline engagement and total focus, likening it to a personal training experience for the brain.
"just do something all the way away from others you know let them do their thing we do our thing Right. Fourth, it is um really, you know, it's funny. As tech as I am, uh, you know, actually a good ana..."
The Intersection of Online and Offline Learning
In this segment, Pollak discusses the balance between online and offline learning experiences at Network School. He highlights the significance of creating physical spaces for collaboration and focus, which enhances the learning process and fosters community among participants.
"done, right? Okay. So, uh, so 9:00 am you know, and so they go video. Then when it was time to code, everybody would bring bring out their laptops. They would work on them, and there's like a TA who's..."
Crypto and the Vision of Network States
Pollak explores the relationship between cryptocurrency and the concept of network states. He argues for a rebundling of society through digital tribes and startup societies, emphasizing the need for institutions to adopt an internet-first approach to governance and decision-making.
"like actually crazy. And huge numbers of people. You know what a million people is like online is just Have you ever seen a stadium like have you seen that the the lime thing on crowd sizes? Have I sh..."
Building a Global Onchain Economy
In this segment, Pollak elaborates on the potential of blockchain technology to fundamentally reorganize society and the economy. He highlights the importance of property rights and contracts in creating a new economic framework that transcends traditional payment systems and social media. Pollak believes we are at a pivotal moment where technology can reshape human connections and societal structures.
"represents, right? Crypto represents property. So that that answers your question, right? How do you build an internet first society? It is going to start with, you know, blockchains give you monetary..."
The Internet's Resilience in Times of Change
Pollak reflects on the internet's design to withstand crises, likening it to a system built to resist nuclear attacks. He discusses how, contrary to fears of a digital divide, the internet often becomes the only resource for many during instability. This resilience is crucial as society navigates through volatility, and he draws parallels to Isaac Asimov's 'Foundation' series, suggesting that network schools can help reboot society in challenging times.
"to sound in the let's call it time of volatility that I think is to ensue one of the, things, you, know, the, internet, was built to resist a nuclear attack right so even in times of extreme instabili..."
Advice for Young Builders
Pollak shares valuable advice for aspiring builders in the crypto space. He encourages them to apply to Network School and emphasizes the importance of foundational knowledge in statistics and computer science. He discusses the potential for young builders to upgrade their identities and opportunities through crypto, while also cautioning against the challenges of hardware competition, particularly with Chinese manufacturers.
"happen. What's your advice for like young builders, people who are coming up right now, like how should they be thinking about this world? How should they be thinking about making their mark, whether ..."
The Reality of Being a Founder
In this segment, Pollak challenges the notion that everyone should aspire to be a founder. He compares the rarity of becoming a tech unicorn to that of becoming a professional athlete, suggesting that many may find greater success as part of a larger organization. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing the hard work involved in founding a startup and encourages young builders to consider various roles within the tech ecosystem.
"they Right. So, um, they use cryptocurrency to upgrade their fiat currency. And one of the things I think about a lot is their crypto identity could upgrade their fiat identity, the crypto identity of..."
Embracing the Builder Mentality
Pollak concludes by highlighting the importance of a builder mentality, which encompasses hard work, resourcefulness, and collaboration. He believes that anyone with an internet connection can contribute positively to society and encourages individuals to adopt this mindset, regardless of their specific skills or industry. This philosophy aligns with the mission of Base and Network School, fostering a community of builders ready to make a difference.
"source developers. I was going to say that, you know, not everyone needs to be a founder, but I think everyone can be a builder. And I think this is actually one of the shared, this is one of the shar..."