Coinbase’s protocols lead, Jesse Pollak, recently shared his optimistic outlook on the future of crypto adoption at the EthCC event in Paris.
Pollak is responsible for Coinbase’s efforts regarding Base, the exchange’s Ethereum-focused layer-2 blockchain unveiled in February. He stated that the company’s goal with Base is to increase the number of things people can do on-chain, thereby providing more opportunities for people to use Coinbase. He added that the focus is not just on speculation and trading but also on art, music, gaming, and other consumer products.
As reported by André Beganski for Decrypt, Pollak believes that the next decade will see a significant increase in the number of people using blockchain technology. He stated that while there are currently less than 10 million people on-chain, he expects this number to rise to 8 billion over the next ten years.
Pollak’s prediction is ambitious, considering the current state of blockchain technology. As of 2023, blockchain is still a developing sector within the finance industry. The previous year’s high-profile failures and falling prices have somewhat tarnished its reputation. However, Pollak remains confident in the technology’s potential for widespread adoption.
As Decrypt points out, the Coinbase executive’s projection of 8 billion users on-chain would essentially encompass the entire global population. Although the United Nations estimates that the world’s population could reach 8.5 billion by 2030, as Decrypt correctly notes, not everyone uses the internet (according to Statista, there are currently 5 billion internet users worldwide).
Pollak is optimistic about the transformative potential of crypto adoption. He told Decrypt that blockchain technology will progressively change billions of people’s lives by giving everyone equal access to products and services, regardless of their location. He described on-chain services as being “fundamentally global by default.”
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