Jesse Pollak on Ethereum’s Pectra Upgrade Supercharging Base

After Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade hit the mainnet on May 7, Base Network is sprinting, leveraging the fork to scale.

In an interview with BeInCrypto, Jesse Pollak, Head of Base and Coinbase Wallet, explains how they are doubling on transaction throughput and pioneering smart wallet evolution.

Base Eyes Doubling of Throughput With More Blobs Per Block

The long-awaited Ethereum Pectra upgrade hit mainnet on May 7, unlocking powerful new features like EIP-7702 and increasing blob capacity to support rollup scalability.

For Jesse Pollak, Creator of Base and Head of Protocols at Coinbase, beyond marking a new chapter for Ethereum, the upgrade enables Base’s ambition to scale access to the on-chain economy.

Specifically, Pollak noted that Pectra raises Ethereum’s data throughput by expanding the number of blobs per block from 3–6 to 6–9. He said this directly affects Base and other Layer-2 scaling solutions that rely on Ethereum for data availability.

“The Pectra upgrade will double Ethereum’s capability to secure L2 transactions, including for Base, from a previous range of 3–6 blobs/block to a new range of 6–9 blobs/block. This means the ecosystem will have the potential to process 2x more transactions per second, keeping fees low as more activity comes onchain,” Pollak told BeInCrypto in the interview.

Base, launched by Coinbase in 2023, has already become a leading Ethereum Layer-2, after dethroning Arbitrum as the largest optimistic rollup on total value secured (TVS) metrics.

Pollak confirmed that the team is pushing aggressively toward a bold new throughput milestone.

“We set an aggressive stretch goal at the beginning of the year to scale Base to 250 Mgas/s blockspace throughput—and we’re sprinting to make that happen,” he stated.

This aligns closely with Ethereum’s broader scaling roadmap. Developers like Tim Beiko have confirmed that Pectra is a stepping stone to even greater blob capacity by year-end. He said the fork could see over 10× growth from Dencun upgrade’s starting point.

Pectra Turns Wallets Smart—And Base Is Ready

Meanwhile, one of Pectra’s most transformative upgrades is EIP-7702. This improvement proposal allows existing Ethereum accounts to upgrade into smart wallets without changing their addresses or losing asset history.

“Pectra’s 7702 enables smart wallet upgrades. Before, people needed to create a new smart wallet to take advantage of this tech, including gas sponsorship and smart permissions. With this upgrade, anyone can upgrade from an existing traditional wallet to a smart wallet, with all of their assets and history, and keep the same wallet address,” Pollak explained.

The Base creator went further, likening the experience to a seamless tech transition. He said it was like “like switching from a landline to a smartphone without having to change your phone number.”

Notably, Base has already been building toward this future. In August 2024, Pollak revealed plans to launch a “dream wallet” within 6-12 months to transform Web2 storage. BeInCrypto reported that the prospective dream wallet would be 10X better than existing web2 or on-chain solutions, enhancing security and scalability.

“I sketched out my ‘dream wallet’ that would be 10X better than anything in web2 or onchain today. Need to solve a bunch of hard challenges, but I think we can get there in the next ~6-12 months. Onchain is going to be 100X better than online,” Pollak shared in August.

With Pectra, that vision becomes significantly easier to realize. Jesse Pollak is committed to refining the product to ensure users are comfortable with the unified account experience.

“Users won’t need to start fresh with a new smart wallet and transfer assets; they’ll have the option to upgrade an existing EOA wallet, bringing along all their existing assets and identity,” he said in the interview.

Scaling Beyond Pectra: Fusaka and the Road Ahead

Further, Pollak emphasized that Pectra is just one milestone to global on-chain scalability. Base, he said, is contributing directly to Ethereum’s open-source, open-standards future.

“Ethereum is built on open source and open standards, and Base is actively contributing to those standards as a key part of our commitment to build in the open,” the Base executive noted.

He credited the Dencun upgrade for first unlocking sub-cent transaction costs, eliminating a major barrier to onboarding millions more users.

With Pectra increasing blob space further, Pollak highlighted Base’s active role in the development process.

“Base contributed to this upgrade through deep technical research & development work, as well as community evangelism,” Pollak revealed.

He pointed to Ethereum’s next major milestone, the Fusaka Upgrade. According to Pollak, the Fusaka fork will add even more blob capacity.

“Our ultimate goal is to keep transaction costs low as we scale the network to allow more and more people to come onchain,” he said.

A Future of Seamless, Scalable Onchain Access

With Pectra now live, Base benefits directly from the L1’s enhanced infrastructure, in terms of throughput and user experience.

As Ethereum continues to grow with upgrades like Fusaka, Base positions itself as a key builder and beneficiary of the broader ecosystem. For now, Pollak’s vision is clear. He aims to push boundaries, scale responsibly, and onboard the next billion users without compromising affordability or simplicity.

Base TVL (total value locked) stood at $3.705 billion (blue) as of this writing, a 21% surge from $3.063 billion on May 7. Similarly, DEX volume (green) has also risen, suggesting increased user trust, liquidity, and DeFi adoption.