Base Will Likely Have a Token: Why Now, Who Wins, and How Big It Gets - Ep. 904

Unchained

Laura Shin

News, Tech News, Business News

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Base just crossed its own Rubicon. After months of saying “no token,” Jesse Pollak now says Base must decentralize and is “exploring” a token. What changed? On this episode, Proof of Play’s ICO Beast and former Coinbase Ventures investor Ryan Yi unpack why “exploring” is the operative word, how policy (the Clarity Act) could shape the rollout, and what a points-driven airdrop might look like. We dig into governance realism (what Coinbase will and won’t give up), token utility and valuation math, and how a Base↔Solana bridge could ignite a fight for DeFi liquidity while Solana keeps winning Gen-Z consumers. Mantle is pioneering "Blockchain for Banking" — a revolutionary new category at the intersection of TradFi and web3. Thank you to our sponsor Mantle! Follow Mantle to learn more. Guests: Ico Beast, Merchant of Narratives at Proof of Play Ryan Yi, Ex Coinbase, Coinbase Ventures, and CoinFund Links: Unchained: Base Starts to Explore a Native Token LayerZero Fought the Sybils and Airdropped Its Token. Did the Team Win? Why the War Over the USDH Ticker on Hyperliquid Is Bullish for Crypto Timestamps: 🎬 0:00 Intro 😲 1:32 Why Ryan says this step feels right but is also “shocking” 🧐 3:21 Why Base announced it was exploring a token rather than just launching one 🛠️ 5:19 How Ryan views Base’s decision to stay committed to Ethereum 📊 7:43 What Ryan thinks a fair token allocation would look like ⚖️ 13:43 How the Clarity Act could shape a Base token rollout 🎁 16:23 Will Coinbase distribute through an ICO, an airdrop, or something else? 📈 23:32 Why ICO Beast has a different take on the right allocation 🛡️ 26:10 Why sybil filters will be critical for Base 💡 27:50 What the Base token’s utility could be—and how to value it 🌉 37:24 What the announced Base ↔ Solana bridge could mean ⚔️ 42:08 Whether Ethereum and Solana are heading for a DeFi liquidity war 🔥 45:25 How competition across crypto companies is heating up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Let's say base token came out today.
0:02.0	Like, what would it trade at?
0:03.0	I would probably conservatively think that it could probably come out at like 20 billion.
0:07.0	I think it could probably run to like 40 or 50.
0:10.0	It will definitely renew more interest in these, especially when mine share across blockchains is, you know, it's a very hard thing in capturement.
0:19.0	That does that, like, open up questions of
0:21.1	do coin shareholders get some kind of claim to it? Because there is, I believe,
0:26.7	revenue numbers that are shared on the coin-based balance sheet based off of the base
0:31.4	sequencer. And so you get into some like weird, weird areas of understanding whether
0:35.6	or not there is some sort of claim to shareholders
0:38.3	and they have like a fiduciary duty there. I have no idea, but that's a complicated angle.
0:45.3	Hi everyone. Welcome to Unchained, your no-hap resource for all things crypto. I'm your host, Laura Shin.
0:51.3	Mantua is pioneering blockchain for banking, a revolutionary new category at the intersection of Tradfai and Web3.
0:59.0	Follow Mantle underscore official to learn more.
1:03.0	Today's topic is the updates from Basecamp.
1:07.0	They're exploring a token, which that, you know, sent shock waves throughout the system,
1:13.3	even though, interestingly, I'm sure most people, if they had to bet money, they would have
1:17.3	that that was going to happen at some point.
1:20.5	But here to discuss is Ryan Yee, most recently of Coinbase Ventures and prior to that Coin Fund.
1:26.0	And in a little bit, we'll also be joined by ICO Beast, Merchant of Narratives at Proof
1:30.3	Play.
1:31.3	Welcome, Ryan.
	...

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