Month: March 2024

Base creator Jesse Pollak argues that much cheaper Layer 2 transactions, as well as other developments, will enable the creation of multitudes of specialized Layer 3s that are deeply connected to the onchain economy. 

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.

Ethereum’s long-awaited Dencun upgrade finally went live this week, and many L2s immediately saw their transaction fees fall dramatically, as was the intention. Among them was the Coinbase-incubated Base, which was created by Jesse Pollak. Pollak joined Unchained to discuss the impact Dencun was having on Base; how he thinks Layer 1s and Layer 2s will start to differ from one another and eventually spawn a multitude of specialized Layer 3s; his response to criticisms of the increasing use of Layer 2s, what he’s focusing on now, and why he supports using the word “onchain” over “crypto” or “web3.” 

Show highlights:

• The problem that Dencun is trying to solve
• The benefits of blobs and blobspace
• How Dencun has already reduced Base’s fees, but also increased its transactions
• How Jesse thinks Layer 1s and Layer 2s will start to become differentiated from each other
• The rise of Layer 3s
• How Jesse addresses criticisms of fragmentation and centralization arising from the increasing use of Layer 2s
• Why Jesse is particularly excited about two features of the Dencun upgrade—transient storage and increased composability between L1s and L2s
• What Jesse and the Base team are focusing on now
• Why Jesse thinks that “onchain” is a better word to describe the industry than “crypto”  or “blockchain” or “web3” 
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Guest | 

Jesse Pollak, creator of Base at Coinbase

Previous appearances:  The Chopping Block: All About That Base With Jesse Pollak 

Links |

Recent coverage on Unchained of the Dencun Upgrade and Base: 

Dencun Day One: Ethereum Layer 2 Networks See Drastic Drop in Transaction Fees

Ethereum Completes Milestone Dencun Upgrade, Which Should Substantially Reduce Fees

How Much Will the Dencun Upgrade Really Reduce Ethereum Layer 2 Fees By?

Why Base’s Creator Thinks Social Apps Will Be a ‘Huge Part’ of the Layer 2 Blockchain’s Success

CoinDesk: Debating Dencun: Will Ethereum's Big Update Help or Harm the Network?

Jesse’s tweets on Dencun

October 2022   |  January 2024  |  March 13, 2024 

Blobs / Proto-danksharding

EIP-4844 proposal

Blobs unleashed: Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade activates on mainnet 

Base says it will support EIP-4844 from 'day 1' following Dencun upgrade 

Ethereum stans are putting the Bee Movie on blobs for as little as $5

Superchain

Decentralizing Base with the OP Stack and Optimism 

Base’s Commitment to Decentralization with the Superchain 

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Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC.  Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz. 

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CoinDesk Indices presents notable data insights from the week, followed by additional analysis from an industry expert.

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The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) functions as a benchmark for the performance of the digital asset market, delivering institutional quality information to digital asset investors. Subsets of the CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) are investible CoinDesk Crypto Sectors and the CoinDesk 20 Index, designed to measure the performance of the top digital assets. Today’s takeaways are provided by Tracy Stephens, senior index manager at CoinDesk Indices with additional analysis from David Attermann, senior portfolio manager at M31 Capital. For more on CoinDesk Indices, visit: coindeskmarkets.com.

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Consensus is where experts convene to talk about the ideas shaping our digital future. Join developers, investors, founders, brands, policymakers and more in Austin, Texas from May 29-31. The tenth annual Consensus is curated by CoinDesk to feature the industry’s most sought-after speakers, unparalleled networking opportunities and unforgettable experiences. Take 15% off registration with the code MD15. Register now at consensus.coindesk.com.

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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie and uses Wondercraft AI Voice. “Markets Daily” is executive produced by Jared Schwartz and produced and edited by Eleanor Pahl, alongside Senior Booking Producer Melissa Montañez. All original music by Doc Blust and Colin Mealey.

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Charlie, Matt and Will jump back into our news roundup to go through this week’s Bitcoin mining hits, including mining profitability, rapper French Montana minting a music Ordinal and the Biden administration taking a second shot at a 30% tax on Bitcoin miners.

Follow along on your favorite podcast player of choice by clicking here.

It’s getting frothy out there! On this week’s news roundup, Charlie, Matt and Will go through this week’s hottest stories in Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining including a 4 megabyte music Ordinal (think music NFT but on Bitcoin) from rapper French Montana, among a host of other movements in the mining industry like the Biden admin’s renewed attempts to tax Bitcoin mining.

Published twice weekly, "The Mining Pod" interviews the best builders and operators in the Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining landscape. Subscribe to get notifications when we publish interviews Tuesday and a news show on Friday! 

Check out our other shows and content by going to Blockspace.media today.

Join our halving party in Denver, Colorado on April 20th! 

Follow our host on Twitter, @wsfoxley.

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"The Mining Pod" is produced by Sunnyside Honey LLC and distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Damien Somerset.

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The Rwandan government says elections will be free and fair. But how democratic will they be if an opposition leader has been banned from standing?

At least sixty-two Cameroonian national football players have been suspended for lying about their age. So why does lying about your age matter?

And a young innovator in Sierra Leone designs a robot which he says will preach peace to the world.

Deadly tornadoes in the Midwest as Colorado deals with huge amounts of snow. School shooter's father guilty. Russians set to re-elect Putin. CBS News Correspondent Steve Kathan has today's World News Roundup.

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