Jesse Pollak: Base Is Winning Trading, Stablecoins, And Payments (The Numbers Prove It)
Jesse Pollak: Base Is Winning Trading, Stablecoins, And Payments (The Numbers Prove It)
2 hours ago•The Rollup•Face-to-face with the most important people in digital assets.
Podcast25 min 28 sec
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Note: AI-generated summary based on third-party content. Not financial advice. Read more.
Quick Insights

Capitalize on the rapid growth of the Base Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem by investing in its leading native decentralized finance and trading protocols. Target high-conviction ecosystem builders like Aerodrome, Virtuals, and Avantis to capture surging Total Value Locked and spot trading volume. Allocate capital to major crypto assets BTC and ETH, which now see higher spot trading volumes on Base than any competing blockchain network. Position yourself in the emerging intersection of artificial intelligence and crypto by exploring protocols driving tokenized inference and agentic transactions. Monitor the network closely for potential future token issuances and further decentralization milestones to time your entries effectively.

Detailed Analysis

Base Ecosystem (Ethereum L2 Network)

  • Base is experiencing rapid vertical adoption in stablecoins, tokenization, trading, and financing.
  • Total Value Locked (TVL) on Base is up 35%, while most other ecosystems are down in TVL since 2025.
  • Base processes approximately 90% of agentic HTTP transactions (known as X-402), where autonomous AI agents buy inference, data, and consumer goods.
  • It is the second-largest crypto financing (borrow/lend) market in the world and growing faster than any other ecosystem.
  • Bitcoin and Ethereum trade in higher spot volume on Base than any other blockchain network.
  • Strategic focus areas for the network include expanding perpetual swap (perps) markets, spot trading, payments, and serving as a backend for neobrokerages, neobanks, and centralized exchanges.
  • Notable ecosystem builders and applications mentioned include Aerodrome, Virtuals, Banker, Venessa (noted for tokenized inference driving $90 million in annualized run rate), and Avantis.
  • The network is exploring decentralization and potential token issuance, though no immediate timeline was provided.

Takeaways

  • Consider exploring decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, lending platforms, and spot/perpetual trading venues built natively on the Base network to capture high-growth activity in the Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem.
  • Keep an eye on the convergence of AI and crypto (often referred to as agentic finance or tokenized inference) as an emerging sector with significant transaction volume originating on Base.

Cryptocurrency Major Assets (Bitcoin & Ethereum)

  • Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trade more on Base from a spot perspective than on any other blockchain network.
  • The transcript emphasizes the fundamental role of these major assets as core components of the expanding on-chain global exchange.

Takeaways

  • Base's increasing dominance in spot trading volume for BTC and ETH highlights shifting user preferences toward high-speed, lower-cost Layer 2 execution environments for major crypto assets.
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Episode Description
Jesse Pollak joins us on CLARITY week to break down how Base is leading in trading, onchain finance, and payments. He also explains how x402 agentic payments and tokenized inference are turning Base into the settlement layer for AI agents, something we've been excited about for a while. He also gives a real update on the long-awaited Base token, Ethereum and the scaling Base is bringing, and also explains why he's optimistic the CLARITY Act passes and accelerates adoption even further in 2026. Jesse Pollak is the Creator of Base, Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2 network powering trading, payments, financing, and the fastest-growing agentic commerce ecosystem in digital assets. The Rollup is where the leaders of digital assets and finance converge. Live from the financial capital of the world. Timestamps:00:00 Intro03:39 Trading, Onchain Finance & Payments06:06 Memecoins Meet Real Utility09:05 Tokenized Inference Takes Off on Base12:06 x402 Agentic Payments Explode14:35 Cobie's Influence On Trading20:25 CLARITY Act Ripple Effect Explained23:19 Base Token Update Guest Socials: Jesse Pollak X: https://x.com/jessepollak Base X: https://x.com/base Base Website: https://www.base.org/ Partners: If you run concentrated liquidity positions you know the grind. Price moves, you're out of range, you're rebalancing at, like, 3am. 1inch Aqua lets you take a different approach. You can stack multiple positions on the same token balance instead of babysitting a dozen pools, and your tokens never leave your wallet. Your liquidity stays awake, so you can catch up on your sleep. Check it out at https://1inch.com/aqua --- Dinari - Over 230 1:1 backed tokenized stocks, ETFs & more with dividends. US-based SEC transfer agent. Available on 5+ chains & via API. https://dinari.com/ --- Relay is the fastest and most reliable way to swap any token on any chain. Learn more here: https://relay.link/bridge --- Zama is an open source cryptography company that builds state-of-the-art Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) solutions for blockchain. Learn more here: https://www.zama.org/ --- 𝗪𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵-𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗯𝗶𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱, 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺. 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘂𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀: Website: https://therollup.co/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1P6ZeYd... Podcast: https://therollup.co/category/podcast Follow us on X: https://www.x.com/therollupco Follow Rob on X: https://x.com/robbieklages Follow Andy on X: https://x.com/andyyy Join our TG group: https://t.me/+TsM1CRpWFgk1NGZh The Rollup Disclosures: https://goodidea.ventures 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗥: 𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘦𝘍𝘪 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬, 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳, 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦. 𝘈𝘵 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘭, 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱, 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴.
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