Base founder Jesse answers 100 questions from the community: Base is more than just L2

Original author: Zhou Zhou, Foresight News

Base may soon become the new king of L2.

Dune and DeFilama data show that from October 6, 2023 to October 6, 2024, Bases revenue increased by $64.57 million a year, $7 million more than the second-place Arbitrum; TVL increased by $1.8 billion a year, and the current total TVL is $2.26 billion. During the same period, Arbitrum increased by $700 million a year, with a total TVL of $2.39 billion; Bases weekly transactions reached 35 million times, of which the daily transaction number was more than double that of the second-place Arbitrum in recent months; Bases number of active addresses increased by 59 million. Almost all important data indicators are in the leading position, and Base is considered to be one of the public chains with the best development momentum.

Jesse launched Base last fall, and within a year, Base stood out from dozens of L2s.

This fall (October 1), Jesse joined the Coinbase executive team and became one of the eight core executives. In addition to Base, Jesse will also lead the important product Coinbase Wallet and be responsible for almost all on-chain businesses of Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States.

On October 2, Jesse answered questions from all users on Warpcast (Base ecosystem social platform), and systematically answered his and Bases development plans for the coming year.

In this AMA, Jesse answered nearly 100 questions, covering topics such as: Possible future products of Base: unsecured credit, regional stablecoins, Web3 social and creator tools, Next steps for Base and Coinbase Wallet, Base ecosystem infrastructure and applications, such as Warpcast, Moxie, etc., Views on memes, such as degen and basegod, Personal interests and emotional life, etc. Foresight News has selected 60 of these questions and categorized them for readers.

What will be Bases next hit app?

Community: What project are you most looking forward to next on Base?

Jesse: I think there’s a lot we can do on top of basenames - the recent framework launch on top of basenames is a great example. It feels like they will be an important part of closing the final gap in on-chain identity, unlocking a lot of other interesting on-chain applications.

Community: What are the top three products you hope people will build on Base?

Jesse: The ones I can think of right now are: 1. On-chain unsecured credit (borrowing can be based on credit scores, historical transaction records, or other on-chain data) - this is a very important use case, and it is now possible with the help of identity tools such as usernames, builder ratings, etc.

2. Local stablecoins for each country - Each country should use its own currency on the chain, which will become an important focus for developers.

3. On-chain social media and creator tools - Current creator tools are not friendly to everyone. On-chain will become the most powerful creator platform in history, bringing a ten-fold better economic model and providing consumers and creators with a better experience through open data.

Community: Are you still involved in on-the-ground outreach in Oakland and San Francisco (on the stablecoin front)? I think your work with farmers markets and other community events is really cool.

Jesse: Yes, we are still very active! We have a running stablecoin (OAK, which can be swapped at swap.oak.community) and have conducted many offline tests. However, we paused at the end of last year because the PoS tooling was not mature enough.

We have made a lot of progress on PoS over the last six months, led primarily by @chintan. We have already started a more sustained marketing rollout on acceptusdc.com and hope to spend the next six months fine-tuning the merchant and user experience to eventually get everything “working smoothly” so we can reintroduce OAK in our marketing rollout in Oakland.

I think this is a great example of on-chain composability: if we make USDC work, OAK will work too, because it’s just an ERC 20 running on Base. From my perspective, this is pure magic.

Community: (On the Web3 social side) How did you get involved with Farcaster? What did you like about it that made you decide to stay?

Jesse: I knew @dwr.eth and @v when I joined Coinbase, and when they launched Farcaster, they invited me to join. From the moment I joined, I felt that it represented the future, so I invested a lot of time and energy in posting here. When I started Base, I also invested the same time and energy.

These investments have been hugely successful - the core developer culture of Base was largely developed on Farcaster. I am grateful every day to have such an open on-chain social platform, thank you Farcaster, Dan, Varun and the rest of the team!

Community: How is Farcaster adoption going within Coinbase? How fast is on-chain social growing? What will the year-over-year growth be? It doesn’t look like we’ve hit compounding hyper-growth for any on-chain social graph yet.

Jesse: There is a lot of experimentation going on right now - almost everyone on the chain has a Farcaster account and actively uses it. I dont have exact numbers, but Im sure its 10x bigger and more relevant now than it was a year ago. We need to grow another 10x to start seeing compound hypergrowth, but Im confident in the future.

Community: What do you think of Moxie (Farcaster’s financial layer)?

Jesse: I’m loving seeing the progress of @betashop.eth (Moxie founders) — it’s great to see them iterate on @airstack.eth and apply those learnings to Moxie. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Community: What on-chain products do you hope will flourish on Base in the future? For example: art, gambling, memecoins, etc.

Jesse: Well, basically any product? I think any Web2 product can be better built on-chain, and I want to support them all. However, I am currently paying special attention to social and payment products, which seem to have the best combination of emerging product market fit and viral growth momentum to quickly accelerate from 0 to 1 billion users.

Community: If there was a company, event, or service on the blockchain tomorrow, which one would you be most excited about? !

Jesse: I think its a real problem that small businesses in the US have an average profit margin of 3-5% and have to pay 3-5% in payment processing fees. This is especially personal to me because I co-own a restaurant in Oakland (thisisdaytrip.com) and have seen firsthand how thin the profit margins are. I really want payments to be on the blockchain.

Community: I often feel like you and the Base team have turned onchain into a buzzword. While this has certainly helped bring more mainstream attention to our space, I also think it has diluted the definition of the term. Maybe Im just a purist and our industry needs a new set of terms. What do you think about using onchain to describe art, games, and protocols that loosely interact with the blockchain to fully on-chain art, games, and protocols that truly embody the medium of blockchain (security, persistence, interoperability, trust, etc.)? Should we create a new word for the latter? Additionally, what are your thoughts on current terms like cryptocurrency and NFT? They have gained a negative reputation since the last bull cycle and should they be replaced?

Jesse: I think we need new language to describe what we are building to put it at the center of technological change and get rid of the historical baggage of encryption. So far, on the chain is the best word we have found.

I think NFT should disappear, and we should start talking about on-chain media, on-chain music, on-chain video, etc. Its easier to understand this way.

Community: How do you see Base developing in the coming year (after the on-chain summer of 2025)?

Jesse: So far, every on-chain summer Ive felt like we had a great chance to achieve consumer virality, but that hasnt happened yet. I think the third time will work. This time next year, well have had over a year to really perfect the smart wallet to provide a seamless experience for users and developers and provide a ten-fold better experience than Web2. The small products that have been launched over the past year will have another year of creative polish, and I believe we will have some real breakthroughs. Hopefully, our scaling efforts will provide enough block space to support all of this. Well have our third on-chain summer again, and I believe we should be able to achieve true consumer virality.

Base, more than L2

Community: Id like you to share your thoughts on Bases development in the coming year. Ive been using Base for over a year now, and I can say it goes beyond any other Layer 2. Its more than just a Layer 2.

Jesse: It’s much more than a Layer 2 — it’s a global on-chain economy that will increase innovation, creativity, and freedom. If you haven’t read it yet, you should take a look at our mission, vision, and strategy. This is where we’re going.

Community: Will Base be separated from Coinbase into an independent entity?

Jesse: There are no plans for that at the moment, but I would say that from the beginning, the Base team was given a huge amount of autonomy within the company. I think thats actually one of the biggest reasons for its success: @barmstrong basically gave our team free rein, and I developed a great working relationship with him, and Im constantly learning from him and incorporating feedback. Im very grateful to be working at a company like this and around a founder and CEO like him.

Community: What lessons did you learn from building Clef and Coinbase’s early consumer products, and how did those lessons influence your strategy for scaling Base?

A: At Clef (a wallet management and transaction signing tool), we built identity products that were very similar to todays passwords and smart wallets, but we were too early. However, many of the underlying strategies and thinking at the time are finally working now, and my ten years of experience are helping me cope.

On the Coinbase Consumer side, this was my first time building a team and thinking strategically and executing long-term. I learned many lessons about what I did right and wrong, and now I’m applying those lessons to scaling Base and the wallet while also learning new experiences. Of course, there are many other things to build!

Community: Will you show proof of reserves for cbBTC? Or conduct an audit?

Jesse: Yes.

Community: Why wasn’t Base included in the recent communication about how OP’s hyperchain works? It feels like the Base logo was intentionally not included, I’m curious why?

Jesse: I’m confused about this as well - we are the first chain to connect to the Hyperchain after the OP mainnet, and we are very excited about the future interoperability. I will ask them.

Meme, changed my perspective

Community: Hey Jesse, congratulations! It’s been an amazing journey! What has changed your perspective in the past year?

Jesse: The first thing that comes to mind is memecoins.

At the beginning of the year, I basically thought of them as a complete distraction and a waste of energy. Every post I had was bombarded with memes, which was very annoying. However, through multiple conversations with @basegod, I began to realize that there was actually meaning to it, and that they were the same internet memes that I knew and loved, just presented in a new on-chain form. This was an eye-opener for me and adjusted my attitude significantly.

Community: What is your take on Degen and what is its apparent potential beyond being a tipping token, meme coin, and overall brand?

A: I am inspired by @jaceks leadership as an independent founder. It is a very hard job, especially when it is related to assets with volatile prices. I find him to be consistently positive, thoughtful, and unafraid to do the right thing. Thank you, Jacek.

Community: What motivated you to list Degen on Coinbase? Do you prefer red or blue?

A: I did not list degen on Coinbase and do not understand why it (or any other asset) was listed. Coinbases asset listing team is isolated from other teams to avoid any shady behavior, which I think is a good thing! However, I am indeed happy that it was listed - and hope that more Base assets will be listed on Coinbase as well. I prefer blue.

Community: On the X platform, there has been some discussion about Base leadership not embracing degen culture and memes as much as they should. What would you say to those people?

Jesse: I think people overestimate the impact Base has on the performance of memes (or other products), and underestimate the ability of these teams to provide actual value to people, whether its culture, fun, or something else. Some things to understand:

1. I had no influence on Coinbase’s listing process (there was a wall between the listing team and almost all teams in the company to avoid improper behavior).

2. I own almost all the memes and NFTs on Base.

3. I am active in multiple communities on Twitter and Telegram, participating in interactions and amplifying my voice.

4. I continue to listen and learn to understand what works and what doesn’t.

With this background, I can say that I work hard every day to help builders of all kinds succeed, including memes. This manifests itself in many ways, but is currently focused on (1) making it easier for new users to get on-chain and (2) creating scalable, hands-off ways to grow.

Privacy is an important human right!

Community: As we move towards a future on-chain world, will you embrace privacy-preserving assets or technologies, or is this still outside the plan?

Jesse: Yes! We had our Base 2025 strategy meeting a few weeks ago, where we proposed that we must make important investments in privacy next year. In 2023, it will be L2 (Base), and in 2024, it will be the smart wallet (Coinbase wallet). Privacy will be the next major technical upgrade problem we are going to solve.

Community: Just now, you said that you are working on creating a private blockchain world. What kind of world is this? What will you do?

Jesse: In the short term, I think we should build a compliant privacy pool on Base. People can use this privacy pool just like using coinbase.com to get new private addresses. In addition, others can build a function similar to get a new private address in one click in the wallet, which is a simple primitive function but can unlock many possibilities.

In the medium term, we need to conduct RD to explore how to integrate privacy natively into smart wallets and Layer 2 stacks. My idea is that you can send and receive information from private.jesse.base.eth, completely privately and without user experience complications. It is not clear how to achieve this, and we need to conduct more in-depth research to determine the best path and start executing.

Community: This is exciting! You should check out @moritz and the @fluidkey teams work on ENS and stealth addresses for inspiration.

Jesse: Yes, I am keeping in touch with them and am very excited about this path!

Community: What do you think of the compliance of the Base privacy pool? Does Coinbase still need to view the keys of all transactions, or will it pursue more ambitious privacy guarantees, through zero-knowledge proofs that prevent Coinbase from blindly viewing transactions that are considered innocent?

Jesse: We havent started working on this yet, so I cant say exactly what well build. However, Im inspired by @ameensols work on privacy pools and think we can achieve full privacy compliance through a mechanism similar to opt-in and opt-out. That said, we actually have a lot of work to do to ensure this goal can be achieved.

Community: I appreciate your perspective, and this will set an important precedent for the industry and raise the bar for everyone. Coinbase releasing a compliant on-chain privacy solution could be one of the most impactful moves in this space.

A: Thank you, there is still a lot of work to do. However, privacy is an important human right. That is why we went to court on the Tornado Cash issue. We will not stop pushing for privacy protection.

After Jesses promotion, Base and Wallet were integrated faster.

Community: How did you join the Coinbase executive team? How does this (promotion) affect your day-to-day operations at Base? What does this mean for the future of smart wallets? How many people do you think are using on-chain now?

Jesse: 1. About six weeks ago, I discussed with @barmstrong (founder and CEO) and @max (VP of Product) the possibility of me joining Coinbase Wallet. We saw the excellent work of Base and the wallet team on the smart wallet and believed that the integration would accelerate the development of the platform. After discussion, we decided that this was the right way forward.

2. The impact on Base is minimal - I have an excellent leadership team and will continue to work closely. Most plans remain unchanged, with the only exception being the smart wallet, where we will accelerate the integration of different teams.

3. According to data estimates, there are currently about 5 million to 10 million people making some kind of on-chain payments, 1 million to 2 million people doing on-chain transactions, and less than 1 million people trying emerging applications such as social, music, and games on the chain. There is a lot of room for growth in the future, and we are beginning to have products that can achieve this goal.

Community: Congratulations on your promotion! In your new position, how do you think you can drive change at Coinbase that wasn’t possible before?

Jesse: Thank you. Frankly speaking, I am very fortunate that I have stayed in the company for a long time and have played my value step by step. I have also participated in most of the companys decisions.

However, this promotion will give me more recognition and a stronger voice. I hope that with this new platform, I can push the company more actively towards the future on-chain world. The technical platform is ready, and now we need to build on-chain applications that have real potential.

Community: Congratulations again on your promotion, and thank you for participating in this AMA. Coinbases alumni network has nurtured countless blockchain project founders, and as the founder of Base, you are no exception. But what made you decide to stay at Coinbase and build a project like Base from scratch, rather than trying to build an external application or protocol yourself?

Jesse: I like working within existing systems to improve them. I’m not exactly sure why, but it’s always been part of my personality.

In 2021, after I finished my job leading consumer product engineering, I took a break and thought I would leave. But I jumped back in and saw an opportunity to have a voice - if I could figure out a way to bring Coinbase on-chain, it would have a huge impact. With my organizational knowledge and trust, I was in a unique position to be able to make this happen.

A few years later, I think this has all been proven. Base wouldn’t be what it is today without Coinbase. I’m so grateful for this opportunity!

Community: First of all, congratulations again on your new role! What do you think is the biggest challenge in your new role? How can we (the community) help you solve this challenge?

Jesse: I think the biggest challenge for the new position is basically the same as the biggest challenge for the old position: even if Base or wallets are good, the reality is that we cant achieve it alone. People will only come to the chain when there are really useful things to do on the chain.

That’s where your role comes in. Keep talking to customers, build things that people really need, that solve real problems, and keep giving feedback on how to make those jobs easier, while making sure the products you build are accessible to the average person. There’s a lot of work to do, and it can only be done together.

Community: What changes would you like to see in new positions and roles at Coinbase?

Jesse: Over the past two years, as Base has grown, companies have increasingly started building on-chain. But it’s still a small percentage of overall attention and resources. I’d like to see that percentage grow and make on-chain business the majority of a company’s business.

As part of this process, I think there is an incredible opportunity for Coinbase to build on-chain at scale. For example, if we execute well, I think we could soon have hundreds or thousands of smart contract engineers working together. This is an opportunity to build a generational team and tooling, and pave the way for countless organizations in the industry.

Community: In the photo of the Coinbase executive team: it could have been a real photo of Jesse, but it was a Cryptopunk. What does this represent to you?

Jesse: At this point, my Punk has become more of a part of me than anything else I own. On the internet and on the blockchain, I feel like it really represents me. When I see my real face on the internet, I feel uncomfortable.

“Next Year We’ll Be Buying Hot Dogs on Coinbase Wallet”

Community: In your opinion, what is the biggest factor that has hindered the development of cryptocurrency in the past decade? What is the biggest factor that will promote the development of cryptocurrency in the next decade?

Jesse: 1. Fees. 2. Wallets. 3. Identity.

We need to improve 10x more on wallets and identity while keeping fees low as demand grows. If we can do that, we can grow rapidly. Smart wallets and the Farcaster social graph are huge enablers in this regard.

Community: What do you think of the current cryptocurrency user experience? Is Coinbase developing a wallet system that can warn users before they interact with suspicious addresses?

Jesse: The user experience needs to reach a state of security by default. Yes, we are working hard to develop better tools so that users dont have to worry about clicking the wrong link and losing money. This is unacceptable for everyday users.

Community: When do you expect to be able to use Coinbase Wallet to buy hot dogs at baseball games?

Jesse: Hopefully by next summer? We are starting to make some real progress on acceptusdc.com, and I think the user experience has improved a lot over the past year for both merchants and consumers.

But we still have more work to do: we need to improve PoS to better support cryptocurrencies, and we need to implement QR code payment. Our team is pushing forward both of these efforts, and I believe there will be a lot of progress in the coming year.

Community: Congratulations on your promotion! What changes will you make to Coinbase Wallet? Is it possible to add framework features to Coinbase Wallet in the future?

Jesse: 1. Easier to use; 2. Better performance; 3. Clearer use cases for each tab; 4. Clearer distinction between apps (as daily on-chain utilities) and wallets (providing support for multiple apps); 5. It might be very cool to add framework functionality to the Coinbase wallet.

Community: What went through that made “a truly consumer-oriented on-chain wallet” a top priority for your personal time and energy?

Jesse: I’ve been saying for the last three years or so that we need to solve three big problems to drive consumer adoption: (1) lower fees; (2) make a wallet that actually works; and (3) bring identity on-chain.

Last fall, after we launched Base, @wilsoncusack came to me and said, Jesse - I know were off to a good start, but we cant get complacent. We need to 10x again, and I think solving the Smart Wallet problem is the way to do that. I resisted at first - frankly, I was exhausted and unsure if I was ready for another big strategic push - but he pushed, and eventually we decided to try. We built the first prototype, then worked with @chintan and @sid to bring the Smart Wallet MVP to market. We knew there would be a lot of problems to solve, but we wanted to release a product that we could build in the public.

We now realize that the best way to accelerate the wallet and Base is to work together. There is still a lot of work to do!

Community: Please tell us candidly where Coinbase Wallet stands as a gateway for the masses to enter crypto/on-chain, and how it compares to other wallets? Can you comment specifically on whether the wallet has too many features and whether this affects the user experience?

Jesse: I think its a 4/10 right now and we need to get it to 10/10. Thanks to the team for the great work and a lot of progress has been made in the past few years, but we still have a lot of work to do.

I don’t think it does too much — I actually think it will do more in the future. But we need to distill the key use cases (payments, apps, discovery, etc.) and make them simple and intuitive. At the same time, we also need to solve some key structural challenges that make it very difficult for ordinary people to get on-chain. Smart wallets are the last piece of infrastructure that allows us to break through these barriers.

Community: Can I export the Coinbase Smart Wallet recovery phrase to BIP 39 format?

Jesse: Currently key signers cannot be exported. However, I believe you can add a recovery signer and export it to BIP 39 format! We will also add more flexibility to add signers so you can do whatever you want.

Community: Do you think Coinbase Wallet will become the main Coinbase ecosystem APP in 1-2 years? Do you think Coinbase Wallet will be more than just a wallet?

Jesse: I think there will be more of a distinction between the Coinbase app and the Coinbase Wallet app. Both will be important in different ways in the future, with Coinbase being more of a financial product and Coinbase Wallet being a tool for everyday use. I agree with that.

Community: Do you think an App Store ecosystem like Apple will once again decide to restrict cryptocurrency/Smart Wallet apps to evade App Store fees? What would the reaction be to such a restriction?

Jesse: Apple is already pretty strict right now, and I certainly hope they dont get any stricter. If they do, I think it will encourage the emergence of real competition and break up the existing App Store dual monopoly.

Overall, I am optimistic about the future and believe that the inevitability of an open on-chain economy will become increasingly clear, and businesses large and small will find ways to adapt and take advantage of this trend.

Jesses Daily Life

Community: Where do you get your ongoing energy from? Do you have a morning ritual that helps you get started for the day?

Jesse: Hey, Im not sure I can pinpoint one specific reason, but here are a few that come to mind:

1. I have a great wife, a good family and close friends who give me a lot of support.

2. The Base team is amazing and they do a lot of work so I can free up my hands and be energetic in various occasions.

3. Ive naturally had a very unwavering focus and drive since I was very young. Not sure where this came from, but its something my friends and family have observed and commented on (both in a good and bad way!).

In terms of morning ritual, my rough schedule is:

1. Get up

2. Exercise (lifting weights or running/biking for 45 minutes to an hour at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate)

3. Make yourself breakfast and a decaffeinated cappuccino

4. Start working

Nothing special, but it seems to work for me.

Community: Do you play sports? What kind of sports do you like?

Jesse: I’m mainly lifting weights, running, and biking right now, but I’ve also started playing some tennis. I played competitive soccer growing up and all the way through college. I still love it, but I’m pretty injury-prone, so I’ve decided to stop playing now to reduce my risk, which is a shame.

Community: What is your evening routine? How do you focus on developing good daily habits and rituals?

Jesse: My wife and I play some mini games like Connections, Wordle, and mini crossword puzzles, then I read a little bit (like a book or Slack), and then I close my eyes and go to sleep. It’s nothing complicated! But I really enjoy playing these mini games with my wife - it’s a new habit I’ve added in the last year and it’s a great way to connect and relax.

Community: What was it like when you first got married? Is there anything different after you got married?

Jesse: Not much has changed—we’ve been together a long time! Maybe now there’s a little more certainty and security.

Community: What was the highlight of your summer wedding?

Jesse: Ah! There were so many great moments!

One of my favorite memories was that after dinner, the music and dancing actually took place a few streets away in the little beach town where we had our wedding. So we took a boom box, gave everyone tambourines and crowns, and paraded from dinner to the venue. Walking with the entire team at sunset to our favorite music was truly a memory that will last a lifetime.

Photo by Jesse

Community: If you could only listen to three albums, which ones would you choose?

Jesse: Wow, that’s hard! Views by Drake, Venice by Anderson Paak, The College Dropout by Kanye West.

Community: What are some of your non-crypto related hobbies?

Jesse: 1. Exercise - running, biking, weightlifting; 2. Spending time with my wife and good friends; 3. Working to improve the living environment in Oakland and the East Bay area; 4. Eating delicious food.

Community: What is your ideal IQ?

Jesse: I dont know if there is an ideal IQ, but I would say that (1) Ive never taken an IQ test, and (2) if I had to guess, Id say my IQ is somewhere in the top 10-20%, but not in the top 1%. Ive found that for me personally, Ive never had that genius feeling - but Ive been able to work very hard and make the most of the knowledge and abilities I do have.

Community: What is your favorite color?

Jesse: Yellow!

Community: Beer or wine?

Jesse: Beer! Specifically, IPA (a very popular style among beer lovers, with a high alcohol content and a noticeable hop aroma, and a bitter taste). However, I gave up drinking about two years ago, so I only drink non-alcoholic IPAs now.

Community: Winter or Summer?

Jesse: I love them all - but I love snow especially. I grew up in Washington, D.C., and one of my hobbies as a kid was being an amateur meteorologist. On the East Coast, there are winter storms called noreasters, and they develop in a very specific way - they start in the central U.S., and then the low pressure system moves southeast, north, and along the coast. Depending on the path of the storm, it can rain or snow heavily.

I used to stay up late watching the GFS and ECMWF models run, and track these storms on forums with other weather nerds like me. The models would predict the future frame by frame, about a minute apart every 6 hours, and everyone would try to interpret what was happening and predict what the models would do otherwise. Of course, there would always be a difference between the predictions and what actually happened, just like when trying to predict the future.

I still enjoy reading the weather reports.

Ambition, Mission and Vision

Community: Why did you join the crypto industry? What has kept you going for so many years?

Jesse: I grew up in a Quaker school and felt a strong calling to make the world a better place. I was deeply influenced by Quaker values, especially simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and responsibility.

When I first learned about cryptocurrency, I immediately felt that this new technology could be a great lever to advance these values. It could help simplify complex legacy systems, foster unity and peace across borders, increase transparency, help communities take control of their own destiny, and provide fair opportunities for everyone. From that moment on, I felt that this was my life’s work. To be honest, I thought it would happen in a few years… but it’s been about 12 years now. Hopefully soon.

Community: How do you balance your versatility between working for a big company and being a public influencer who only talks about crypto?

Jesse: Haha, honestly, it’s hard and probably the most anxiety-inducing thing for me out of all the things I do. The internet (especially Twitter) can be a very cruel place. My guiding principle, though, is that I should always be myself no matter what. It may not please everyone, but at least I know I’m being authentic. This mindset has served me well so far!

Also, while I tweet a lot about crypto, it’s not the only thing I talk about. I also frequently post about Oakland, the East Bay, and how we can create more for our local community. I’m particularly passionate about this and invest time in it on evenings and weekends.

Community: How do you think people’s perception of the industry will impact our ability to realize the full potential of cryptocurrency, both technically and culturally?

A: Ive always been optimistic and wanted to believe otherwise, but the reality is that it does affect us. If you look at the data, the average public perception of cryptocurrency is very negative and its not getting better. This is a big barrier for us to get people to try and benefit from this new technological paradigm.

I think there are two important aspects to this problem:

1. Build real, useful and influential on-chain products. We have more of these products every day, but the more specific they are, the more they can help people see the value.

2. Change the way we express these contents. Using the term on-chain and viewing it as a technology platform can attract more people to participate.

There is still a lot of work to be done.

Community: In addition to blockchain, what other decentralized technologies do you think we should build?

Jesse: There is only one idea that jumps out at the top of my head right now: more decentralized energy generation. It feels like an important building block for a more resilient society, and I think it will also be an important lever for addressing climate change.

Communities: This sounds like a small nuclear grid that could power a city on its own. Im not sure about the safety of these, but Id like to see remote areas have this type of generation, or have power outlets small and powerful enough, like places like North Carolina, to stay powered.

Jesse: I totally agree.

Community: What is your best mentoring advice?

Jesse: Always lead with curiosity and questioning – it’s easy to jump to solutions, but most of the time if you start asking questions that you’re genuinely curious about, you’ll help the mentee find the right answer themselves (and it’ll usually be better than what you suggested).

Community: Will the fighting spirit in you disappear?

Jesse: The scrappy side of me will never go away. By the way, we need to stop chasing other people’s tails and start being true warriors. It’s easy to get lost and distracted when we’re always trying to react to other people, products, or competitors. I’ve found that this pattern usually leads to bad results — bad products, bad go-to-market strategies, and incremental progress.

What’s harder is to identify what we want to be and do our best to get there. This can be scary because it often means looking 1-2 years into the future and mapping out a path that doesn’t exist yet. This path usually requires a lot of hard work, but it gives us the chance to be ten times more successful.

Throughout my career, I’ve found that the process of observing, making decisions, and moving forward can ultimately help you find the right direction, even if your predictions are wrong.