Jesse Pollak: Base – The Optimistic Gateway to Crypto Adoption #485
Channel: Epicenter Podcast
Date: 2023-03-03

Layer 2 scaling solutions are widely regarded as the next step forward in the mainstream adoption of crypto as they enable higher throughput and lower transaction fees. Coinbase’s recent announcement of building an optimistic rollup solution called Base is proof (no pun intended) that major centralized actors view this as an opportunity to onboard new users in a decentralized crypto economy. The following years will abound in innovation as both optimistic and zero-knowledge rollup solutions still have plenty of room to grow, but the involvement of centralized entities will act as a catalyst from a technological, as well as a regulatory standpoint.

We were joined by Jesse Pollak, Head of Protocol at Coinbase, to discuss the thesis & business model behind Base and how it will act as an interoperable bridge to onboard the next billion users on-chain.

Topics discussed in this episode:
0:00 - Introduction
2:14 - Jesse’s background and his role as Head of Protocol at Coinbase
4:50 - Base’s business model & thesis
12:08 - Building on the Optimism stack
18:17 - Permissionlessness
23:56 - How regulations are going to influence users of Base (vs. Coinbase)
27:44 - Learning from the competition (BSC)
35:09 - Different fee markets to offset transaction costs
41:26 - Why Base chose the Optimism stack
47:28 - Base’s upgradeability
50:52 - Tackling Optimism’s withdrawal period
54:00 - Bootstrapping Base
59:42 - Future roadmap and mainnet timeline

Links mentioned in this episode: 
- Jesse Pollak on Twitter: bit.ly/3mnEvxa
- Base on Twitter: bit.ly/3IJ9RWv
- Coinbase on Twitter: bit.ly/3kDgqBT
- Optimism on Twitter: bit.ly/3IGzhDX

Sponsors: 
- Omni: Access all of Web3 in one easy-to-use wallet! Earn and manage assets at once with Omni's built-in staking, yield vaults, bridges, swaps and NFT support.
https://omni.app/ -

This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: https://epicenter.tv/485