Cryptocurrency
‘Massive’ crypto use cases to surface by 2030 — Coinbase exec
Coinbase launched Base, its new blockchain, in late July, and it has already become a major player among Ethereum-based layer-2 chains.
On Sept. 21, for instance, the chain notched some 677,000 transactions, with 870,163 “new addresses seen,” according to Etherscan.
By comparison, Arbitrum, a prominent layer 2 that launched in June 2021, had 925,000 transactions and 54,233 new addresses on the same day.
Base is now hosting hundreds of decentralized projects, Jesse Pollak, head of protocols at Coinbase, told Cointelegraph at Messari’s Mainnet conference in New York City on Wednesday, Sept. 20, including decentralized inflation oracles, restaurant rewards projects, an insurance aggregator and everything in between.
A major force behind the Base project, Pollak sat down with Cointelegraph at Mainnet for a Q&A encompassing Coinbase’s vision for its new platform, the rising promise of decentralized applications (DApps) and the evolution of blockchain technology.
Cointelegraph: You’ve said Base was created with a “clear vision: bring the next million builders and billion users on-chain.” Those are big numbers. How long will they take to achieve?
Jesse Pollak: It’s less about Base specifically and more about a billion users coming on-chain — embracing the power of this new platform [i.e., blockchain] that’s transparent, open, global — and developing apps that can improve people’s lives. Base is obviously going to play a big role in that, but it’s much bigger than just us. We really see our role as helping grow that pie.
CT: And the timeline?
JP: I see it happening this decade, i.e., one million developer jobs by 2030. There’s already been massive change in the 2020s — not just in the industry but the entire world. It’s going to happen faster than people might expect.
CT: What still needs to be done before we see mainstream adoption?
JP: Three high-level things need to happen. First, we need to make it cheaper for people to use these apps that are being built. We’ve done the first few orders of magnitude of cost reduction with Base. The same app might have cost $5 or $10 to use now costs 5 to 10 cents.
But we don’t think that’s enough. We really want to lower it so far that the cost is almost imperceptible to users.
Second, we want to make it easier for people to use these apps. A lot of that is building better wallet experiences.
Third, we need to have better identity infrastructure on-chain. Today, most consumer borrowing in the United States and other developed countries is under-collateralized borrowing in the form of credit cards or buy-now-pay-later arrangements. And almost none of this is possible on-chain now because we don’t have reliable identity systems.
So, to enable that next wave of big use cases, we’ll need lower costs, better wallets and better identity.
CT: You’ve said that what most people have done with crypto until now is speculate on the crypto markets, and it’s time to move on. Has it been a mistake to focus so much on the market price of Bitcoin, say?
Pollak: I don’t think it’s wrong if you look at the way that technology life cycles evolve. Carlota Perez, for instance, writes that financial bubbles are almost inevitable when you have meaningful technological innovation like the internet or electricity. You have this S-curve of adoption. [See chart below.] In the beginning, a lot of innovation is fueled by speculation as people see potential in the technology. This speculation draws in capital, which basically funds the innovation and eventually leads to impacts that change the world.
CT: Where are we now?
JP: We’ve reached the point where it’s time to move out of that [speculative] phase and into the phase of really bringing utility to everyday people. The infrastructure is ready.
Even two years ago, if you wanted to use an app on Ethereum, it was going to cost you $5 or $10 or $100. That’s just not something that is supportive of building everyday use cases.
CT: Speaking of Ethereum, why did Coinbase decide to build its layer 2 on the Ethereum blockchain? Did you ever consider using another mainnet?
JP: We actually looked three times at building a chain: In 2018 and 2020, and then most recently in 2023. And the first two times, we looked at building an alternative layer 1, one which would have been competitive with Ethereum. Our takeaway was we didn’t want to put ourselves on an island disconnected from the rest of the ecosystem.
The third time, we looked at all of the options: Ethereum, alternative layer 1s, layer 2s, etc. What felt natural to us about Ethereum was it is the largest crypto ecosystem by value, by activity, by developers — by order of magnitude or two — and so by building Base as an Ethereum layer 2, we could both contribute to scaling Ethereum and be a part of this ecosystem that’s larger than us.
CT: What about Ethereum’s oft-discussed scalability shortcomings, including network congestion and sometimes ballooning fees? Have those been largely solved through extensive use of layer-2 rollups like Optimism and Arbitrum (and now Base), where transactions are “batched” and added to the mainnet in a single lot?
JP: If you look at the history of Ethereum, the original vision was: We’re going to do all this at layer 1, and we’re going to scale up through sharding. But around 2020 and 2021, as layer 2s emerged, the Ethereum community and core development groups basically said: What if we changed our strategy where instead of trying to introduce all of this complexity at layer 1, we build the infrastructure to enable innovation at layer 2?
That was something that Vitalik [Buterin, Ethereum co-founder] wrote about a lot. And over the last two years, that’s what happened. Coinbase supported an initiative over the last year-and-a-half called EIP-4844, for instance, that introduced data availability for rollups, leading to reduced fees and more transaction throughput.
But do I think we’ve solved the problem? No. These things take years to solve, and I think we are now two to three years into making those investments, and we have another two to three years or more potentially to go. But I think we’ve made a lot of progress.
You can see this at L2Beat. [See chart below]. Two years ago [Sept. 21, 2021], there were eight transactions per second [on average] on layer-2 projects and 13 TPS on the Ethereum mainnet. Today, there’s 58 TPS on layer 2s and 11 TPS on the Ethereum mainnet. So we’ve gone from less than 1x to 5.7 times faster in two years.
CT: Are you surprised that a “buzzy” social media DAPP — Friend.tech — was initially Base’s biggest performer after its summer launch? Its fees surpassed $1 million in one 24-hour period. Still, maybe this wasn’t the serious use case that some critics were hoping for.
JP: Well, when the first social apps launched on the internet, some people looked at them and said, hey, these things are toys. When are we going to go do the serious stuff like bringing newspapers online? If you look at where we are today, social apps are used by billions of people every day. They will continue to be a way that people connect, and social apps will play a critical role on-chain.
What’s powerful about this next generation of on-chain social apps is that they will enable people to have sovereign ownership. They will continue to own their creativity, and they’ll continue to be in control — rather than the large corporations that are controlling them now.
CT: Can you tell us about a DApp launched on Base that excites you?
JP: Check out Blackbird, a customer engagement platform for restaurants. You walk into any participating restaurant, you tap your phone, and it instantly knows who you are. They customize the experience for you. Repeat visitors can earn rewards. It’s in 10 or 15 restaurants now in New York City but is soon expanding into California. A lot of people are talking about it on Twitter.
CT: Where will blockchain finally find its “killer app” — to do for the cryptoverse what email did for the internet? Or has it already emerged in your view?
JP: There won’t be one killer app. There will be many killer apps. We’re starting to see some of those emerge. The one with the most real-world adoption is stablecoins. If you look at the total volume of stablecoin transactions over the last year, it’s a massive number. It will be a big driver of economic freedom in the decade ahead. It gives people in places like Argentina or Turkey access to a stable currency like the U.S. dollar.
But stablecoins won’t be alone. We will see many on-chain applications that will change people’s lives for the better.
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TL;DR
Shibarium’s recent slowdown has sparked concerns over Shiba Inu’s network engagement and price outlook.
However, a negative exchange netflow and a low RSI hint at potential recovery signs.
Brace for Impact?
The number of daily transactions processed on Shiba Inu’s layer-2 blockchain solution, Shibarium, has been in decline over the past few weeks.
On June 1, the figure shrank to just 65,411, marking the lowest point observed in nearly three months. Additionally, the number of active accounts and new contracts has also headed south.
The aforementioned data indicate stalled activity on the network, suggesting reduced user engagement, which may have a negative influence on the price.
Some members of the Shiba Inu team, as well as other industry participants, believe the future development of Shibarium is vital for the meme coin’s price performance. One of those is the Bitcoin advocate Jeremie Davinci, who recently said:
“I like Shiba Inu, as you know, and I think it will do relatively well in this cycle, but it may not go as high as you expect. I think Shiba Inu has a lot of utility now that they have Shibarium, and basically, it’s a chain that you can actually run all kinds of applications.
However, nobody is using it, and there are no applications for using your tokens on Shibarium yet. If they get that solved, Shiba Inu will go to the moon.”
Another factor signaling bad news for SHIB’s valuation is the project’s burning mechanism. Over the past seven days, the team and community have destroyed approximately 111 million tokens, representing a 15% decline compared to the rate witnessed the week before. Furthermore, only 1.57 million SHIB were burned in the past 24 hours, meaning a nearly 90% decrease on a daily scale.
The program’s ultimate goal is to reduce the overall supply of the meme coin and potentially increase its value through scarcity. According to Shibburn, the amount of tokens burned from the initial supply since adopting the program is over 410.7 trillion, leaving 584.4 trillion in circulation.
Some Bullish Signs
Although the aforementioned signs imply a bearish future for Shiba Inu, other factors paint a more positive picture.
For instance, SHIB’s exchange netflow has been predominantly negative over the past week, indicating that the coin’s supply on centralized platforms is decreasing. This suggests that investors may have shifted toward self-custody methods, a move that reduces immediate selling pressure.
Shiba Inu’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) is also worth mentioning. The momentum oscillator is currently hovering slightly above the bullish zone of 30. Ratios below that level typically indicate that the meme coin may be oversold and poised for a rally. On the contrary, anything above 70 may be taken as a warning signal.
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TL;DR
- Ripple’s cross-border token has struggled in the past week, alongside most of the market, and has dropped below a crucial support line, which has now turned into resistance.
- Analysts outlined a couple of different scenarios for the asset, which envision a price drop below $2 or a surge to $4.5.
Is XRP Actually Heading for New ATH?
The fourth-largest cryptocurrency surged in mid-May as the rest of the market recovered from the Trump-induced crash in early April. However, it couldn’t rise any higher than $2.6, where it was halted on a couple of occasions, while BTC managed to break through and chart a new all-time high of almost $112,000. Ethereum also outperformed XRP on a monthly scale, as the latter’s price seems stuck.
Moreover, the asset fell below $2.3 in the past few days, a level that many analysts highlighted as a crucial support, now turned into a key resistance. Cryptowzrd noted that XRP closed indecisively the week, but pointed out the $2.21 resistance as the first obstacle in the asset’s long road to recovery. However, if it manages to reclaim it, this could form an inverse head-and-shoulders, which could result in offering a “long opportunity.”
CW believes XRP’s turn “has come,” and suggested that the asset is expected to break through the current small convergence. If this pattern plays out, XRP’s next price target can be $4.5, which would mean a massive surge past the January 2018 all-time high of around $3.4.
$XRP‘s turn has come.
It briefly broken the upper line of the convergence in the short-term correction, but the price recovered rapidly.
And the uptrend that signals the end of the retest is imminent. This time, it is expected to break through that small convergence.
The… pic.twitter.com/hVIpU4xueP
— CW (@CW8900) May 31, 2025
The Bearish Scenario
While the aforementioned scenarios provide a more optimistic outlook for XRP’s future price movements, Brett wasn’t so bullish. The analyst told their over 90,000 followers on X that Ripple’s token is currently at a “critical breakdown point.”
It has dropped below key EMAs and is currently testing the 200 EMA. If it fails to remain above it, XRP could be on its way to the $2 support or even lower. They urged the bulls to “step in now,” or there will be more pain ahead for XRP.
$XRP is at a critical breakdown point!
Price has slipped below key EMAs and is now testing the 200 EMA.
Failure to hold here could drag XRP toward $2.00 or lower.
Bulls must step in NOW — or we head further down.
#XRP #Ripple #Crypto pic.twitter.com/6ygu7ZlAVI— Brett (@Brett_Crypto_X) June 1, 2025
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[PRESS RELEASE – Road Town, British Virgin Islands, June 2nd, 2025]
Today, USDT0, the unified liquidity network for Tether’s US dollar pegged stablecoin (USDt), announces the launch of XAUt0, the omnichain evolution of Tether Gold (XAUt), built to bring the largest gold-backed digital token to the world’s leading blockchains. XAUt0 is the omnichain deployment of Tether Gold, allowing users to own a physically backed, inflation-resistant asset while tapping into the full composability and financial innovation of digital assets.
Today, there are many ways to get started with gold, from metal ETFs to tokenized price trackers. However, most of these options only provide indirect price exposure to gold prices, and don’t offer true ownership rights or the ability to freely use or move holdings. Launched in 2020, Tether Gold (XAUt) was one of the earliest and most groundbreaking projects to bring real-world assets on-chain at scale. By combining the reliability of physical gold bullion with the transparency and accessibility of blockchain technology, XAUt was an early innovation that offered the best of both worlds: a timeless hedge against inflation, delivered with the flexibility and freedom that modern finance demands.
Now with XAUt0, XAUt can be leveraged across leading blockchains and easily plugged into lending, liquidity pools, FX arbitrage, and more. By combining the direct, physical gold ownership of Tether Gold with the frictionless, omnichain liquidity layer pioneered by USDT0, XAUt0 creates a globally accessible, infinitely programmable form of gold that retains the reliability and timelessness of the original asset. With the price of gold reaching all-time highs, the launch of XAUt0 enables the world’s most enduring store of value to become as seamless and accessible as the networks that increasingly define global capital flows.
XAUt0 is the omnichain deployment of Tether Gold (XAUt), built on LayerZero’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard. XAUt0 allows users to seamlessly and securely move their XAUt between chains. Each XAUt token represents ownership of one fine troy ounce of gold on a specific gold bullion bar meeting the quality assurance requirements of “London Good Delivery” set by the London Bullion Market Association, securely stored in a Swiss vault. All XAUt and therefore XAUt0 holders have an ownership interest in a specific physical gold bar, rather than indirect exposure to gold prices.
In collaboration with the TON Foundation and The Open Platform (the largest venture builder in TON & Telegram), the first deployment of XAUt0 will take place on The Open Network (TON), bringing tokenized gold to hundreds of millions of users within the Telegram ecosystem.
“The initial rollout of XAUt0 on TON reflects our shared vision of making digital assets seamlessly accessible to people around the world, unlocking new economic opportunities for those who need them most,” said Andrew Rogozov, CEO and Founder of The Open Platform. “Starting today, Tether Gold will be instantly available to users of Wallet in Telegram, and in Q3, we will launch a major promotional campaign to engage users of TON Ecosystem.”
While Bitcoin is metaphorically considered “digital gold” due to its trustless scarcity model, XAUt0 introduces real “digital gold” that is both physically backed and built for seamless omnichain use. Inheriting the core strengths of XAUt, XAUt0 offers powerful advantages over directly holding physical gold, including:
- 24/7 Access: While traditional gold markets close for weekends and holidays, XAUt0 holders can buy, sell, lend, or use their digital gold at any time, from anywhere.
- Secure Digital Storage: XAUt0 holders enjoy the economic security of gold with the self-custody of digital wallets, without the costs and hassle of physical custody.
- Infinite Divisibility: XAUt0 can be bought and sold in fractional increments, opening up new possibilities for everything from collateral provision to portfolio diversification.
- Physical Redemption Options: XAUt0 holders can exchange their XAUt0 for XAUt, which can be redeemed for physical gold, delivered to a Swiss address.
“XAUt is already setting a new standard for tokenized gold—each token represents direct ownership of physical gold securely stored in Switzerland,” said Paolo Ardoino, CEO of Tether. “At Tether, we’re excited to witness the launch of XAUt0, which aims to revolutionize gold in the digital era.”
“At USDT0, our mission has always been to unify liquidity and make digital assets truly borderless across blockchain ecosystems,” said Lorenzo R., Co-Founder of USDT0 and Everdawn Labs, a leading software development firm in the Tether ecosystem. “With the launch of XAUt0, we’re applying that same mission to gold, one of humanity’s oldest and most enduring stores of value. By unlocking seamless omnichain access to physically backed gold, XAUt0 brings a timeless asset into the decentralized ecosystem.”
For more information, users can visit gold.usdt0.to or follow USDT0 on Twitter @USDT0_to.
About USDT0
USDT0, the unified liquidity network for USDT, simplifies cross-chain movement without fragmented pools or complex bridges. As the unified gateway for USDT interoperability and expansion, USDT0 simplifies cross-chain liquidity, enhances accessibility, and unlocks new use cases for Tether holders, businesses, and DeFi platforms. With a focus on efficiency and scalability, USDT0 is redefining how USDT operates across networks. For more information, users can visit USDT0.to or follow on Twitter @USDT0_to.
About Everdawn Labs
Everdawn Labs is a premier software development consultancy, specializing in crafting bespoke software solutions that drive innovation, efficiency, and growth in the digital asset ecosystem. Everdawn Labs manages and operates USDT0, the unified liquidity network for Tether (USDT), XAUt0, the omnichain deployment of Tether Gold (XAUt), and contributes to the development of Alloy by Tether, a USD-denominated Tethered Asset backed by gold. For more information, users can visit everdawn.to/.
About The Open Platform (TOP)
The Open Platform (TOP) is a VC and venture builder for early-stage projects on TON Blockchain. TOP provides a powerful toolkit of funding, expertise, and technology resources, streamlining access to critical tools like wallets, developer resources, SDKs, APIs, and marketplaces. With this support, TOP enables developers to build scalable Web3 products ready for widespread adoption.
For more information, users can visit: top.co.
About TON Foundation
The Open Network Foundation (TON Foundation) is a non-profit organization supported by community contributors to further TON’s objectives. Founded in Switzerland in 2023, TON Foundation brings together a diverse range of expertise to support protocol development, help shape the platform, and facilitate ecosystem growth. While an advocate of TON’s mission, the foundation does not exercise any authority over TON. TON operates on open-source software, welcomes input and contributions from all individuals, and remains independent of central control. To learn more, users can visit https://ton.foundation.
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