Jesse Pollak admits Base misstep, bets big on AI and trading

Base creator Jesse Pollak has acknowledged that the network’s multi-year bet on onchain social products did not deliver the expected growth and has redirected Base toward trading, payments, and AI-powered financial infrastructure. Summary Jesse Pollak admitted Base’s onchain social strategy failed to drive expected crypto adoption. Base will prioritize trading, stablecoin payments, and AI agent infrastructure through 2026. JPMorgan warned growing USDC revenue sharing could pressure Coinbase and Circle profits. Base returns to infrastructure after social experiment falls short According to a post published by Jesse Pollak on Wednesday, the first quarter of 2026 became a turning point after Base spent nearly two years betting that developers and social applications would drive the next stage of crypto adoption. lots of conversations about base over the last week. wanted to share my candid take after a week of listening and a lot of reflection over the last 6 months. first off – in case it’s not obvious, the first quarter of 2026 was a punch in the face. I spent 2024 and 2025 making a… — jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) July 15, 2026 While developers helped expand sectors such as stablecoins, perpetual futures, and prediction markets, Pollak said products including Farcaster, Zora, mini apps, and creator coins did not become the growth engines Base had expected. Accepting responsibility for the outcome, Pollak wrote that he had been wrong about the strategy, while adding that it remains uncertain whether the approach failed because of poor timing or because the underlying thesis was incorrect. You might also like: BlackRock scores major SEC win as IBIT options cap quadruples The reassessment also came with organizational changes. Pollak said he has handed responsibility for the Base App back to Coinbase so he can concentrate on developing the Base blockchain itself. Crypto investor Jordan Fish, better known as Cobie, will oversee the app’s next phase within Coinbase. Coinbase strengthened its relationship with Cobie last year through two transactions worth $400 million. Those deals included the $375 million acquisition of Echo, his onchain fundraising platform, along with a separate $25 million purchase of an NFT tied to the return of his UpOnly podcast. Pollak also acknowledged that Base lost ground in several product categories while focusing heavily on social experiences. Although the network supported trading applications such as Avantis and Limitless, he said those platforms remained smaller than competing services, while Base also needed stronger tokenization tools and enterprise payment infrastructure. Trading, payments and AI become Base’s priorities Having stepped away from daily work on the Base App, Pollak said his attention has returned to the blockchain itself, where he has worked on upgrades including Azul, Beryl, B20, privacy improvements, and ledger development.