- Base creator Jesse Pollak has said that the network prioritizes creators
- Pollak was responding to Pump.fun’s co-founder, who said that crypto traders are more important than creators
- Pollak, however, said Base still has a place for traders
Jesse Pollak, the creator of Ethereum layer 2 Base, believes creators are superior to traders, saying that the network gives developers “the #1 priority.” Pollak was responding to Alon Cohen, the co-founder of memecoin platform Pump.fun, who considers traders to be “the most important user group in crypto.” The Base creator clarified that traders follow the activities of “creators and developers,” suggesting that Pollak wants developers to create unique products that address users’ long-term needs and not passing whims.
No Value, No Users
Cohen argued that traders abandon crypto projects if they “don’t see value, leading to creators shifting their focus to other chains or closing down. Pollak disagreed with this view, saying “trading is downstream of creativity,” adding that the growth of a project’s user base also comes later.
if you are a creator or developer and you want to be the #1 priority, we would love to have you on @base
i love traders, but our north star is helping creators and developers build their dreams – everything else is downstream of that https://t.co/QglYJgaU1n
— jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) April 21, 2025
According to Pollak, “everything else will take care of itself [after] growing creators and creativity onchain.”
trading is downstream of creativity.
volume is downstream of creativity.
growth is downstream of creativity.my #1 priority is growing creators and creativity onchain, everything else will take care of itself.
— jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) April 21, 2025
The discussion on who matters most between creators and traders comes after Base faced fierce criticism for presumably promoting a token that crashed by over 90% in less than a day.
Not an Official Token
Base, however, distanced itself from the project, calling the token unofficial because it shared a name with the scaling layer. It also said that “experimenting in public” is the best way to build to put the future on the blockchain.
The back and forth between Pollak and Cohen comes two weeks after web3 game Infected blamed Base for a failed launch. Infected claimed that the scaling layer couldn’t handle the influx of new users. Base refuted the accusations, noting that the protocol “hummed along, just as it should.”
With Pollak siding with creators, it’s to be seen whether traders will withdraw from Based-powered projects to show that they matter more than developers.
