Most Influential: Jesse Pollak

Base, the layer-2 web incubated by Coinbase, exploded successful popularity this year.

Dec 12, 2025, 3:00 p.m.

Jesse Pollak, champion known arsenic the creator down American crypto speech Coinbase’s layer-2 web Base, has been seen arsenic the idiosyncratic mostly liable for the network’s maturation successful popularity this year.

Pollak, who began astatine Coinbase successful 2017, launched Base successful 2023. Designed to marque onchain enactment cheaper and easier and to enactment a caller question of decentralized applications, Base represented the archetypal clip a large crypto speech had launched its ain layer-2 network.

This year, Base saw important growth: crossing $15 cardinal successful full worth locked (TVL) successful January and becoming 1 of the largest L2s by $10 cardinal (Arbitrum is the lone layer-2 web larger than Base).

The emergence of Base’s popularity is not lone owed to however debased transaction costs are — good nether a cent —, but besides due to the fact that of the increasing DeFi applications disposable successful its ecosystem, arsenic good arsenic societal applications and memecoins that drew maturation implicit the past year. (Pollak’s rising stardom was somewhat dimmed erstwhile helium faced dense backlash implicit his $JESSE memecoin motorboat successful November, aft what galore users assertion that bots grabbed overmuch of the proviso and the token siphoned liquidity from different Base projects.)

In 2025, respective projects connected Coinbase’s Base web person breached retired arsenic large ecosystem drivers, with projects similar decentralized speech Aerodrome Finance, which surged to much than $1 cardinal successful TVL successful January 2025 and a halfway liquidity hub for the chain. Zora, a decentralized societal network, besides emerged arsenic a standout, launching its token successful April and riding Base’s increasing onchain creator-economy trend. More broadly, Base itself has seen explosive maturation crossed DeFi, social, and meme-driven applications, creating a feedback loop that amplifies request for autochthonal protocols arsenic the web positions itself arsenic a location for this benignant of onchain civilization and experimentation.

As for what the concatenation has adjacent successful store: Pollak hinted that determination could beryllium a autochthonal token coming to Base, creating overmuch anticipation among users who are already driving activity.

Read more: Base Explores Issuing Native Token, Says Creator Jesse Pollak

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