BASE Creator Jesse Pollak: Why Most Crypto Traders Lose (And What to Do Instead) | E93
Jesse Pollak is the creator of Base, Coinbase's ethereum layer 2 network offering a secure, low-cost way for anyone to build decentralized apps onchain. He is also the Lead at Coinbase Wallet and a member of the Coinbase Exec Team. In this conversation, Jesse shares his deeply personal journey of building Base, from the intense pressure of early ideation to the physical and emotional toll of its launch. He opens up about almost quitting, losing 20 pounds from stress, and how his wife's intervention helped him through the darkest moments. Beyond the struggles, Jesse discusses his ambitious vision for an onchain future, predicting that "everything will be onchain in 5 years." From his unique background in Quaker schools to his unconventional problem-solving methods, Jesse offers rare insights into what it takes to build a platform that could transform how billions of people interact with the digital world. In this episode, we explore: Jesse’s mind and struggles What gave him a big chip on the shoulder How hard the beginning of Base was on a personal level Why the most successful products in crypto DO NOT have a token The Coinbase’s centralization Paradox How Jesse built the leading Ethereum Layer 2 in the crypto space. Why Jesse owns a Cryptopunk What it takes to be a successful founder in crypto Why Jesse cuts his hair earlier this year How Jesse finds solutions to the most complex problems! And much more!
Art, Music and Festival Culture with Refraction — Malcolm, Raf, Greg
Malcolm Levy, Raf Katigbak and Greg Liburd are co-founders of Refraction. An artist-owned community leading the next wave of digital art, music and culture — online, onchain and IRL. They all have extensive backgrounds in media, culture, festivals, films, brands. As artists, designers, writers, producers and creative people. Raf was early at VICE. Greg did a bunch with Jordan. Malcolm was the Director of the New Forms Festival 2001-16, and Curator of CODE Live during the 2010 Olympics Games. Today we reveal that Refraction and UFO are teaming up via our radio station. And exclusive alpha is shared for the future of Refraction for the first time on this show. Sponsors: Your crypto wallet for everything onchain — zerion.io Create, distribute and monetize on your own terms — paragraph.xyz Higher is a lifestyle — aimhigher.net Home of onchain ticketing — onopen.xyz Where group chats make more money — lore.xyz
[BONUS] LIVE FROM DENVER: L2 WARS
On our final special bonus episode of Rehash recorded live in Denver on March 1, 2024, we’re holding our first ever debate between three major L2 chains: Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism. The representatives from each chain are Hudson Jameson (Polygon), Disruption Joe (Arbitrum), and Binji (Optimism). Each representative gives opening and closing statements about why the layer 2 chain they’re working on is the best one, shares some popular use cases for projects building on their chain, and some even attack other chains in an attempt to win the L2 wars.
Modular March EP 5: Value Accrual in The Modular Thesis with Tarun Chitra
The value accrual model in the modular stack is akin to that of the rise of the early internet. According to Tarun, founder of Gauntlet and a prominent angel investor, we will see more and more specialized usecases for applications which are highly expressive. As a result of this, the need for a modular stack becomes more and more apparent. We really enjoyed this conversation which drew inspiration from the evolution of the internet and computing to paint a clearer picture of the modular future. We’ve been quite deep in the technical weeds during Modular March (exactly where we want to be), so it was refreshing to host a discussion that goes beyond technicalities and instead touches on the practical application layer of modular blockchains. Hope you enjoy and feel free share with your friends who are trying to answer the question “why modularity?” & “where does the value accrue in the modular stack?” for the future of blockchain scaling.
Ep 28 - Abram Dawson
Today we’re joined by Abram Dawson of 0xSplits to talk about their new naming system and how they're powering the onchain music economy with their back end earning system.
