In this article, we continue with our interview with Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base Blockchain. In part 1 of this series, Pollak discussed his leadership style and the events that led to the creation of Coinbase’s own blockchain. In part 2, Pollak argues what the true competition of Base is at the moment.
In the last part of this interview series, Pollak discussed their foray into the Philippines and why Base is betting big in the country:
The Philippine Market: The View of Base
Nathaniel Cajuday, Junior Editor, BitPinas: The Philippines is among the top countries for crypto adoption. From your perspective, what unique characteristics of the Filipino market have contributed to this rapid adoption?
Jesse Pollak, Creator, Base: Our data says the same: Filipinos and the Philippines are among the largest adopters of crypto, using it for payments and gaming.
Pollak: The Philippines is Globally Connected
A few things likely contributed to this. First, the Philippines is a very globally connected country.
Many Filipinos are already working in the global economy, whether for American companies, other countries, or building products locally that reach Southeast Asia and beyond. That global connectivity is significant.
Filipinos are Hardworking and Have High English Literacy
Second, Filipinos are hardworking and innovative, motivated to build a better future for themselves. It’s fascinating to think about where this originates, but I’ve noticed something as I’ve met builders here. Coming from a Quaker background, I’ve seen how religious perspectives can motivate people. Similarly, the Philippines’ Catholic heritage seems to instill a grounded sense of purpose. People here want to build a better world and do the right thing.
The fact that the Philippines is an English-speaking country is also a massive advantage. As English continues to be a global language, Filipinos have an easier time connecting to the global economy.
Filipinos Love Games
Lastly, gaming has really taken off here. Events like the YGG Conference showcase how gaming and on-chain gaming have helped people earn money and innovate in new ways. The combination of these factors makes the Philippines a hotbed of crypto usage. That’s why we’re here, and it’s something we’re leaning into as we aim to help grow the Philippine economy in this new global system.
Will Base and Coinbase Have The Same Workforce in PH?
Cajuday: So you mentioned in an interview with BusinessWorld that Base is hiring a country leader for the Philippines. With Coinbase and Base, where do you draw the line? Will Coinbase and Base have the same workforce in the Philippines?
Pollak: There’s a lot of overlap today. Coinbase already employs a few hundred people in the Philippines. At Base, we’re hiring our first country leader.
This role—Base Philippines—fits into our country-by-country structure. We have Base India, Base Kenya, Base Nigeria, and now Base Philippines. Leaders in each country help grow the on-chain economy by leveraging local knowledge of people, culture, and the tech ecosystem.
Base is still part of Coinbase, and I’m employed by Coinbase. However, Base is increasingly becoming a global decentralized ecosystem. We’re leaning into decentralization, empowering people to be autonomous builders and community members.
If anyone watching this is interested in the country leader role, please reach out! We’re looking for a visionary leader with technical, community-building, business, and marketing skills—a multifaceted individual who can help build the best version of the Philippines on-chain with Base.
How Base Sees #CryptoPH’s Potential?
Cajuday: This week, the YGG Play Summit showcases Filipino leadership in blockchain gaming. Beyond gaming, what other industries or applications do you believe Filipinos can lead through blockchain innovation?
Pollak: Gaming is a significant area where Filipinos are leading. The Philippines is possibly the largest gaming region in Asia—or even globally. Filipino builders are both playing and creating games, which is inspiring.
Two other use cases stand out.
First, payments. The Philippines has one of the highest remittance rates, and there’s a lot of innovation in payments—both for consumers and businesses. Many of these innovations are moving on-chain. I’m excited to see Filipino entrepreneurs lead in defining payment models that can be applied worldwide.
Second, social. Existing centralized social platforms often underpay and gatekeep creators, leaving them at risk of being deplatformed. On-chain social products are emerging as a better alternative. These platforms integrate payments and enable new ways for people to earn and share content.
The intersection of gaming, payments, and social presents a huge opportunity for Filipinos to lead the charge in blockchain innovation.
What Base Learned from Coinbase’s Buildathon?
Cajuday: Coinbase is currently having the Onchain Summer Buildathon, right? What have you learned from Filipino participants, and how might this influence future programs in the Philippines?
Pollak: The biggest takeaway is the incredible energy here. Hundreds of builders participated, and one Filipino product won a prize in the local crypto category. It was a peer-to-peer on-ramp that makes it easier and cheaper for Filipinos to move money on and off-chain.
Another fun project called “Slime” is using a cute slime character for onboarding in Manila. They’re putting slimes in taxis and on the streets to introduce people to crypto and the possibilities of the on-chain economy.
This creativity and energy have inspired us to double down. We’re hiring a leader for Base Philippines and looking for ways to invest more in the ecosystem. We want to support Filipinos in building bigger and better on Base.
Base’s Future Plans in PH
Cajuday: Filipinos are interested in web3 gaming, RWAs, and airdrops. Are there any leaks or hints about future plans or events that Base will have in the Philippines?
Pollak: We’re doing a lot more meetups here as we hire a country leader.
One emerging trend I’m excited about is on-chain content creation. Filipinos are highly creative, and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram are opportunities to bridge everyday people into the on-chain economy.
This is a big opportunity for Filipinos to tell stories about this new economy, earn money, and invite others without the high fees of traditional systems. These stories will be rewarded—financially and through recognition—and this mindset is core to Base.
You don’t need to be a developer to contribute. Building communities, content, or anything that brings people into this economy makes you a builder. Join us in creating the future on-chain.
Base’s Hopes in PH’s Crypto Regulation
The Peso Stablecoin
Cajuday: You emphasized the importance of a Philippine Peso stablecoin in empowering the on-chain economy. How does Coinbase or Base plan to ensure its success in a market like the Philippines, which already has remittance solutions?
Pollak: The thing that we’re excited about a peso stablecoin is that it can make remittances and other payments in the country faster and cheaper. So instead of taking three to five days and instead of taking 5% to 10% fees and spread and fees, it can be instant and it can be essentially zero fee and I think that’s going to be a huge boon for so many Filipinos around the world and in the country who are trying to send money to their friends and family and are currently kind of like not getting the best deal.
And so you know, I think that there’s a few things that we’re focused on in order to make the peso stablecoin successful in the Philippines and on-chain:
Regulatory Clarity
The first is that we were excited about the government continuing to kind of work towards regulatory clarity.
The more clarity that the government policymakers in the Philippines can create for stablecoins and other innovations that are happening on-chain, the better. And we’re excited about the progress. We’re hearing a lot of good signs there, but we want to keep supporting that progress.
Supporting Local Businesses
The second is that we’re excited about supporting local businesses in the Philippines to both launch peso stablecoins and grow the adoption of peso stablecoins.
So that’s folks like PDAX, like Coins.ph, who have on and off ramps already that can use stablecoins to give their customers better options and give them easier conversions to dollars and to make it easy for them to get on and off the on-chain economy.
And by leaning in with local players, we’re not only going to help the global on-chain economy, we’re going to help the Philippines economy grow with on-chain and lifting up the Philippines economy and making sure that the Philippines economy and the peso become stronger as a result of this technology shift. I think that’s really important.
On-Chain Philippines
And then the third thing is that I think we’re going to continue leading in on just making it super easy for people to be on-chain. Like a Philippine peso stablecoin isn’t useful if it’s really hard to access and most people can’t actually use it. It’s only useful if it’s easy to access and it makes people’s money faster cheaper and easier to use than it is today. And so a lot of the work that the Base team is doing is building infrastructure and tooling to make that possible so that both businesses and consumers can have an easy time using this kind of new form of their money on-chain.
Crypto Regulation
Cajuday: You mentioned earlier the regulatory environment here in the country, so the Philippines’ SEC has upcoming plans or framework for digital assets.
What aspects of this framework would you consider most critical for fostering innovation while protecting consumers?
Pollak: I was just touching on this, but I think one of the most important things is kind of creating clarity for stablecoins so that we can bring peso stablecoins on-chain so that we can have a low-cost effect to make it so people can swap between Philippines pesos stablecoins and dollar stablecoins or euro stablecoins and other stablecoins in the on-chain economy.
That we believe is going to help bring in more capital to the Filipino economy and help the economy grow faster. So I’d say that’s a big one.
I think the second big one is that there’s still a lot of uncertainty around entrepreneurs who are building startups on-chain on what they can and can’t do. And that’s from social products to games, like, what’s good? And what’s, what’s allowed?
We want to see more clarity because when there’s a lack of clarity, it becomes very hard for entrepreneurs to do their best work, and we’ve seen this in the United States where you know, oftentimes, I talk to entrepreneurs and they’re spending more money on lawyers than they are on actually building their product and that’s not like good, right? That’s bad.
And so I think we want to see the Philippines SEC and other regulatory bodies to really just work towards understanding the technology and understanding how powerful this technology can be for growing the Philippines economy and then working to create rules that establish that clarity and create an environment where builders can build and where entrepreneurs can actually do their best work because they can focus on the product.
Cajuday: Where can people find you or can connect to Base?
Pollak: Yeah, so you can find me on Twitter, Warpcast, Tiktok, and Instagram. I’m Jesse Pollak. You can follow Base on Twitter and Warpcast, you can go to our website at base.org and we’re always here to help you build. That’s my number one favorite thing— meeting builders listening, learning, and figuring out how I can help them build better. So, keep building and stay based.
With that, the entire interview with Jesse Pollak is complete. In case you missed it, check out the interviews here:
Keep reading on BitPinas for interviews with the people who move the crypto industry in the Philippines forward.
This article is published on BitPinas: Interview Part 3: Why is Base Betting Big in the Philippines
What else is happening in Crypto Philippines and beyond?
