Base creator Jesse Pollak says he’s stepping again from main the Base App after admitting he made a “improper guess” on social, leaving the chain to fall behind on prediction markets and perpetual futures.
In a put up to X on Wednesday, Pollak stated he had guess that creator, content material and messaging apps would drive adoption, however as an alternative the market “disintegrated fully.”
“We realized how our concentrate on social had meant that base had fallen behind in key areas that had been now more and more vital — we had perps (shoutout avantis!) and prediction markets (shoutout limitless!), however each had been properly behind scaled rivals.”
Pollak’s feedback give additional perception into the reversal of Base’s progress technique earlier this yr. Whereas Base initially targeted on social merchandise resembling Farcaster, Zora and miniapps to deliver crypto to “a billion individuals,” Pollak stated monetary functions are the best way ahead for the community, with a concentrate on buying and selling, funds and AI brokers.
Limitless Trade’s month-to-month notional quantity is barely a fraction of its bigger rivals. Supply: Dune Analytics
Pollak added he shall be returning management of the Base App to Coinbase, beneath Jordan Fish, identified on X as “Cobie,” whereas he focuses on the Base blockchain.
Coinbase CEO: “We tousled” on content material cash
Pollak’s put up got here simply days after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong acknowledged content material cash “didn’t work,” prompting the corporate to pivot earlier this yr.
“We tousled, time to show the web page,” Armstrong stated on Monday.
In February, Base sundown its Creator Rewards program and Farcaster-powered social feed as a part of a strategic shift to tradable belongings.
Associated: Moonbeam to pivot from Polkadot to Base, unveils AI agent framework
The Creator Rewards program launched in July 2025 and was supposed to make the Ethereum layer-2 Base a extra social ecosystem, the place exercise and engagement translate into earnings. In the meantime, Pollak admitted the Base App was an “imperfect Farcaster shopper.”
Base’s work on stablecoins, AI brokers
Final week, Base activated its B20 token customary on the mainnet, introducing a local framework for stablecoins, tokenized real-world belongings (RWAs) and different fungible tokens.
In Might, Base launched Base MCP (Mannequin Context Protocol), a instrument that lets customers handle their crypto straight from an AI mannequin’s chat interface and work together with crypto protocols resembling Morpho, Moonwell, Uniswap, Aerodrome, Avantis, Bankr and Virtuals.
In April, Base stated it was upgrading key programs in preparation for an AI agent economic system as a part of its 2026 roadmap. It highlighted real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, stablecoins, and prediction markets as being key progress areas in 2026.
“We’re going to construct base into the blockchain for international finance and do every part we are able to to be the place that the world’s cash settles over the following century,” Pollak stated on Wednesday.
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