Why These DeFi Builders Are Betting It All on Coinbase’s L2, Base - Ep. 894

Unchained

Subscribe to the new Bits + Bips channels!

• 📺 YouTube

• 🎧 Podcast → Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Fountain

• 🐦 X / Twitter

Coinbase’s L2 Base is quickly becoming the most powerful distribution funnel in crypto — and two builders are betting everything on it.

In this episode, Aerodrome’s Alex Cutler and Moonwell’s Luke Youngblood explain why they aligned early with Base, how Coinbase’s strategy could transform token launches by offering “one-click distribution” to 100M+ users, and why they believe Coinbase is set to become the world’s largest “crypto bank.”

They also debate whether exchanges should decide which assets people can trade, how DeFi must evolve to reward token holders sustainably, and whether Uniswap’s push to keep liquidity fragmented is a moat or a weakness.

Finally, they unpack the future of sequencing — and why Flashbots could deliver Solana-level speed while making trading fairer for everyone.

Thank you to our sponsors!

• Walrus

Guests:

• Alexander Cutler, Co-founder of Aerodrome Finance

• Luke Youngblood, founder of Moonwell Finance

Links:

• Unchained: Companies Are Competing to Bring Crypto to the Masses. Who Is Best Positioned?

• Crypto Firms, Fintechs and Banks Hope to Dominate Stablecoins. Who Will Win?

• Moonwell stats

• Aerodrome stats

Timestamps:

• 🎬 0:00 Intro

• 👥 2:56 Why Alex and Luke aligned early with Base, and how their backgrounds shapes that decision

• 📢 6:32 How Coinbase is positioning itself as the distribution partner of the onchain economy

• ⚖️ 21:12 Whether exchanges should be the ones deciding what assets people can trade

• 🌱 33:15 How DeFi needs to evolve to reward token holders sustainably and focus on long-term growth

• 💧 41:32 Whether liquidity fragmentation is actually a feature, not a bug, for Uniswap

• 💸 57:50 How Moonwell and Aerodrome justify issuing more incentives than they currently earn in revenue

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices