Interview Part 1: The Vision Behind Base With Jesse Pollak
This is part 1 of our interview with Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base blockchain. Read the entire series:
- Part 1: The Vision Behind Base With Jesse Pollak
- Part 2: Base’s Approach to Competing Blockchains and AI
- Part 3: Why is Base Betting Big in the Philippines
Jesse Pollak, a Coinbase engineer who created the Ethereum L2 blockchain Base, stressed these words during an exclusive interview with BitPinas Junior Editor Nathaniel Cajuday.
- The interview took place at Makati Shangri-La on November 20, 2024, during the Base team’s Global World Tour. Their final stop was in the Philippines, where Pollak participated as a speaker at the YGG Play Summit, a web3 gaming-focused conference held from November 19 to 23.
In Focus: Base was launched in August 2022 using the OP Stack. In 2023, Coinbase officially adopted the layer two blockchain and helped the international exchange scale and reduce transaction fees, extending its operations beyond being just a marketplace for crypto, according to CoinDesk.
- Recent News: During the YGG Play Summit Industry Day which happened on the same day as the interview, YGG Co-Founder Gabby Dizon announced that Yield Guild Games’ new platform, Onchain Guilds, will be launched on Base.
The interview, edited for clarity, shows Pollak’s answers on the background of Base, how he sees other competitor blockchains, his point of view on how will AI and crypto meet with each other, Base’s plans to create a community in the country, and his message to the crypto regulators in the country.
Exclusive Interview with Base Blockchain Creator Jesse Pollak
Table of Contents
Pollak’s Leadership
Nathaniel Cajuday, Junior Editor, BitPinas: Hello everyone. I’m Nath from BitPinas, and here with us is Jesse from Base. Good morning, Jesse.
We would like to start this interview by asking you personal questions: What inspired you to pursue a career in blockchain and how did your leadership style influence the direction of Base?
Jesse Pollak, Creator, Base: I first learned about Bitcoin and crypto in 2012 and started a company back then that worked with crypto companies—they were customers. Through that, I got to kind of see the possibility of this technology platform and how it could be used to build a better world, a global economy that everyone could participate in.
Then I joined Coinbase in 2017 and have been spending the last couple of years building Base.
In terms of how my personal leadership style and approach have influenced Base, we like to say that Base is for builders. It’s for people who show up to do the work, bring their creativity, bring their passion, and make their mark on the world—whether that’s in the form of building an app, expressing their creativity on-chain, or building a community.
This kind of mindset, like nothing is beneath us, and it’s hard work from all of us to change the world, I think that’s something that I’ve always felt very personally. I think it’s something that we’ve woven into the culture of Base from the beginning. And we talk about it as, you know, what it means “to be based.” I think it’s kind of shaped how we show up as a community.
Base’s Humble Beginnings
Cajuday: So can you share a pivotal decision or challenge during the journey of Base that only you could have navigated?
Pollak: I think one challenge was just the founding of Base. When we started building towards this idea of bringing Coinbase on-chain and bringing the world on-chain, we didn’t actually know what that meant. We didn’t know what we were building, we didn’t know what the product was. We spent about a year trying things and failing, and trying and failing.
Through that experience, it was a good reminder that you don’t always know the path to get to where you’re going. We kind of knew what we wanted to do, but we didn’t know how we were going to get there. It took a lot of messing up—doing things that didn’t work—in order for us to learn what would work and ultimately build Base.
I think that’s a lesson for all builders. Oftentimes, the first thing you do isn’t going to be the thing that works—or maybe not even the second, or the third, or the fourth. The most important thing is just showing up—showing up to keep building, showing up to talk to customers, talking to other folks who are interested in what you’re doing to learn, and then taking another step. If you keep doing that, you’re going to be in a good place.
The Gamble: What Factor is Important to Base’s Success?
Cajuday: So, let’s put this situation: If ever Base were to fail in achieving its long-term vision, what do you think would be the most likely reason, or how are you addressing it now? Or if it were to succeed, on the other hand, what do you think would also be the most likely reason?
Pollak: It’s kind of two sides of the same coin.
If we were to fail, I think the reason why we would fail is because we couldn’t inspire builders around the world to build this future. That’s why we’re on this global tour, that’s why we’re in the Philippines—because what we’re seeing is just incredible energy from people in every city, every country around the world, to update the systems that are broken right now. Whether that’s the high fees that people pay, the slow times for moving their money, or the frustration of putting your creativity on a platform and not actually making any money from it—people are fed up with the way things work today and want to build new systems.
The flip side of that is when we are successful, we will be successful because of the builders. People like you, who are watching this video, who are here creating this content. The people who believe in a better future and who are willing to take their unique skills and figure out how to apply them to building that future together.
And so, that’s our focus all the time—how do we serve builders? How do we help builders be more successful? How do we help them build the future?
Please also read:
- Part 1: The Vision Behind Base With Jesse Pollak
- Part 2: Base’s Approach to Competing Blockchains and AI
- Part 3: Why is Base Betting Big in the Philippines
This article is published on BitPinas: Interview Part 1: The Vision Behind Base With Jesse Pollak
What else is happening in Crypto Philippines and beyond?
