BONUS Episode: The Year We Built Base, a 2024 Restrospective Featuring Jesse Pollak
Friday, 3 January 2025 · 2 min read · Listen to the episode ↗
In 2024, BASE has solidified its role in building a global on-chain economy by emphasizing decentralization and scalability, evidenced by a massive increase in Total Value Locked. Key initiatives include empowering developers through educational resources and grants, promoting innovations like meme tokenization and AI agents, and creating local stable coins for easier transactions. Jesse Pollak highlights the rise of social products that enhance visibility for creators, indicating a focus on bridging real and blockchain worlds.
BASE's achievements in 2024 underscore its commitment to building a global on-chain economy that promotes innovation and creativity. On January 9, 2024, BASE outlined its roadmap, emphasizing decentralization and scalability for fast, affordable, and secure transactions. The platform aims to cultivate a robust developer ecosystem, equipping creators with tools to build world-class assets and attract consumers and businesses.
The success of BASE is evident in its Total Value Locked (TVL), which skyrocketed from 742 million to 14 billion, positioning it as a leading Layer 2 solution. This growth is largely due to collaboration with tens of thousands of builders globally. BASE has supported this community through various initiatives, including educational resources, smart wallets, on-chain kits, gas credits, and multiple waves of builder grants. The On-chain Summer 2 hackathon showcased this support, receiving over 1,200 project submissions and awarding 250 ETH.
Looking ahead, BASE aims to reduce centralization in app distribution and growth, with plans for 2025 focusing on empowering builders to achieve independent viral growth. Notable successes from 2024 include Aerodrome as the top DEX, the expansion of the lending market by Morpho Blue and Moonwell, and the rise of AI agents on BASE. Clankr's innovation in meme tokenization has also made it more accessible to users.
Jesse Pollak expressed enthusiasm for 2024, particularly regarding the emergence of social products like Farcaster and Zora, which are expected to enhance visibility for builders and accelerate the discovery and rewards for creators. Additionally, BASE is focused on bridging real and on-chain worlds, with products like Blackbird improving dining experiences and Daylight connecting decentralized energy solutions.
The initiative to develop local stable coins aims to facilitate transactions in various currencies, easing the transition for newcomers to the on-chain space. BASE's mission remains centered on fostering a global on-chain economy, emphasizing teamwork, optimism, and pushing creative boundaries, encouraging builders to engage with the community and contribute to the ongoing growth of the on-chain economy.
This summary was generated from the episode transcript and can contain mistakes.