Overview
- Jesse Pollak said on July 15 that he was stepping back from running the Base App and handed app leadership back to Coinbase so he can concentrate on the Base blockchain.
- Jordan Fish, known as Cobie, will take over the consumer Base App after joining Coinbase via the Echo acquisition, with a mandate to rebuild the app toward trading and broader on‑chain use.
- Base’s public strategy shift replaces social and creator-coin priorities with three clear product goals for 2026: trading expansion, stablecoin payments and infrastructure for AI agents.
- The change follows technical milestones and strains on the network, including the late‑June Beryl/B20 mainnet activation and two reported mainnet stalls that raised questions about reliability.
- Base points to payment traction—x402 handled roughly $48 million by April with about 95% on Base—as an early commercial proof point, while investors and builders will watch technical stability, funding and partnerships next.