Technology and Science15 July, 20262 min read
Jesse Pollak Says Base App Will Pivot to Trading After Social Feedback
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Pollak steps back from Base app leadership to focus on Base's global-finance role. Jordan Fish (Cobie) to lead the Base app team.
Base App turns to trading
Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak said the Base App will shift its product focus to trading after mixed user feedback on its social-heavy features, writing that “The app felt overly focused on social” and “too close to web2.”
Pollak said Base App is the rebranded version of what was Coinbase Wallet, and that Base is the Ethereum Layer 2 developed by Coinbase.
In The Defiant, Pollak described a “finance-first UX,” writing, “We’re going to lean into a finance-first UX. We believe it makes more sense to layer social features on top of finance, than the other way around,” as the app dials back its social-heavy approach.
The Defiant also linked the pivot to Farcaster stepping back from its original social-first model to focus more on trading, and it quoted Dragonfly Capital partner Rob Hadick in connection with Base’s refocus.
Pollak steps back; Cobie leads
CoinDesk reported that Pollak is stepping back from leading the Base app after admitting his crypto social strategy failed, and it said Jordan Fish, also known on X as “Cobie,” will lead the Base app team. Pollak acknowledged that his bet on onchain social applications and creator coins was a mistake, writing “I was definitively wrong,” and CoinDesk said the strategy left Base behind in key areas such as trading, payments and tokenization.
CoinDesk added that Pollak handed the Base app back to Coinbase so he can focus on building Base as the blockchain for global finance, with Fish overseeing the app’s development. In the same coverage, CoinDesk said Fish will work to make the Base app “the best damn app for onchain,” while Base itself will prioritize trading, payments and AI agents as it seeks to become infrastructure for global finance.
Bitcoin BIP-110 splits the network
In a separate technology debate, Decrypt described Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 110, or BIP-110, as a proposal to change Bitcoin’s consensus rules that would temporarily restrict methods used to embed arbitrary data in Bitcoin transactions. Decrypt said BIP-110 would limit most new transaction outputs to 34 bytes, restore an 83-byte limit for OP_RETURN outputs, cap certain witness elements at 256 bytes, and temporarily restrict several Taproot features commonly used for inscriptions.
“There are 110 things more dangerous to Bitcoin than spam.”
The dispute has drawn reactions from Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr, Blockstream CEO Adam Back, Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, Casa Chief Security Officer Jameson Lopp, and Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow, with Saylor writing, “There are 110 things more dangerous to Bitcoin than spam.” Decrypt also quoted Adam Back saying, “Bitcoin won't be joining it,” in response to the idea of creating a fork if users want different rules.