Jesse Pollak, creator of the Base Layer 2 network, said tokenized equities and non-dollar stablecoins will lead the coming “tokenization supercycle.” Speaking to The Block at Token2049 Singapore, Pollak said: “It’s equities. U.S. and global equities. We already did dollars. If I had to pick another, it’s going to be non-dollar currencies. People are really sleeping on non-dollar currencies.”
Pollak noted the dollar will remain in high demand, but countries will stay sovereign and people will continue spending in local currency. Base currently offers 32 stablecoins across 21 currencies, including the euro, Canadian dollar, Nigerian naira, and Indonesian rupiah. “I think we can start this transition of fintechs in the local regions, moving on to stablecoin rails as the underlying backend without people even really having to know about it,” he said.
Over 99% of stablecoin supply is pegged to the U.S. dollar, but data from The Block shows Japanese yen- and sterling-pegged stablecoins have expanded their share among non-dollar stablecoins. South Korea, Hong Kong, and Brazil are among regions advancing local currency stablecoin initiatives.
Pollak cited an eightfold rise in tokenized equities supply over the past 12 months, from about $400 million in September 2025 to $3.3 billion last month. Coinbase launched tokenized stocks on Base six weeks ago, with roughly $70 million to $100 million in daily trading volume, 50 stocks listed, and 250 expected by the end of October. He said tokenization opens previously limited access to equities for global traders and offers a “clearly better experience” because assets are 24/7, instantly sellable, and transferable to anyone.
Base has moved away from selling generic blockspace and is specializing the chain in three areas: trading, payments, and financing. For 2027, trading work includes simpler interfaces and APIs for routing trades, and better onchain infrastructure for DEXs, proprietary market makers, and central limit order books. Payments will focus on machine payments, with Base working with Cloudflare to build capacity for one million transactions per second. Financing will accelerate through easier APIs and improved chain infrastructure. Pollak said agentic payments cut across all three areas, arguing that “all of finance is going to be agentically driven over the next one, two years, and Base wants to be the place where that all happens.”
On the winding down of Blast and Abstract, Pollak rejected the idea that Layer 2 experimentation is over. Blast announced on Oct. 2 that it would wind down because costs exceed revenue, and Abstract said it will shut on Dec. 15 after parent company Igloo spent 18 months and lost “tens of millions of dollars.” Pollak said chains need a differentiated product and a distribution strategy, and acknowledged both teams’ work while noting: “Chains are businesses in lots of ways. Not all businesses are going to work.”
