“When we’re thinking about what it takes to build a global economy, there is no one person or team that has all the answers. Instead what you need is thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people from all around the world who are trying to figure it out, and that’s what builders are.”
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@jessepollak
It’s been a rough several months, but comments like these (alongside actions to match) make me more optimistic that
@base is going to turn a corner and begin its second major growth period after the one which got it from 0 to 1.
That first period of growth was defined by a focus on building the best chain for builders. It was simple, and it worked.
Of course, what gets you from 0 to 1 doesn’t always get you from 1 to n, but I do believe a more decentralized approach to building Base is better than taking one or a few concentrated shots on goal as a centralized team trying to crack the code to bring hundreds of millions on people onchain.
The chain works. You can critique the app, the strategy, the marketing, the communications, etc. — I myself have done all of these things (though I try to limit the public criticism unless I really feel it could be useful) — but it is harder to critique the chain. You can, it’s not perfect, but it is a great place to build, and it’s still factually early (2.5 yrs old).
As someone building on Base myself, currently focused on
@qrcoindotfun, I do not believe the success of my projects is fully dependent upon any massive success of the chain on which I build them, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. A bad product on a great chain doesn’t suddenly become a good product, but a rising tide lifts all boats, and so some success can become more success, and great success can become greater.
2026 could be a great year for Base, but nothing is inevitable. It’s not “Base is the new global economy” or “Base will be the new global economy” but Base could become the new global economy.
Most recently, it’s been winning the rapidly emerging market for builders of a different type than the ones that helped bring Base from 0 to 1 — agents.
Base has become the place for agents largely because of
@bankrbot, which is a great example of why building a chain for builders makes sense as a strategy.
999 builders might have built apps on Base that failed to gain meaningful traction but
@0xDeployer went ahead and built
@bankrbot and in the last few weeks it’s helped bootstrap the agentic economy on Base. (a pretty big deal)
You don’t need a high hit rate if you have thousands or hundreds of thousands of builders building on your chain. You just need some home runs. If it’s a great place to build and everyone knows home runs are possible, builders will keep building, the chain should keep growing, and a new, global, onchain economy might actually be built on Base.