In this exclusive Crypto Times interview, Saumya Saxena, Global Builders Lead at Base (Coinbase), sits down with Divya Mistry to discuss the evolution of Base, India’s growing role in the onchain economy, stablecoins, AI agents, tokenization, crypto adoption and what it will take to bring the next billion users onchain.
Saumya shares her journey from initially believing crypto was a scam to becoming deeply involved in the ecosystem, building companies and now helping builders across the world build on Base.
In this interview, we discuss:
🔹 Base’s vision for the global onchain economy
🔹 Why local-currency stablecoins could change everyday payments
🔹 Base’s 2026 focus on global markets, payments and stablecoins
🔹 The Beryl upgrade, B20 and institutional onchain finance
🔹 Why Base moved toward its own infrastructure
🔹 The future of onchain social and consumer crypto
🔹 India’s massive opportunity for crypto and blockchain builders
🔹 Why Indian developers need to focus on distribution, storytelling and users
🔹 What separates a hackathon project from a real startup
🔹 India’s crypto regulation and how builders can navigate uncertainty
🔹 AI + crypto and the rise of Agentic Finance (AiFi)
🔹 AI agents making payments, spending and investments
🔹 Tokenization and real-world assets
🔹 What the next billion onchain users could look like
🔹 Why crypto needs to disappear into the background
🔹 The biggest opportunities in onchain capital coordination
Saumya also explains why she believes the industry needs to move beyond the “crypto native” label and focus more on real-world utility, better storytelling and practical use cases.
Could Base become the default infrastructure for the global onchain economy? And could India become one of its most important builder markets?
Watch the full conversation to hear Saumya’s perspective.
