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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” 

Thank you to our sponsors!

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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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