Base Founder Jesse Rarely Admits Strategic Mistake, Social Dream Shattered
Base founder Jesse Pollak publicly acknowledged a strategic misjudgment, stepping back from leading the Base App to focus entirely on the Base blockchain with the goal of building a "global financial blockchain." He admitted that while Base's bet on builders was correct, its parallel bet on social applications (like Farcaster, Zora, creator coins, and miniapps) as the driver for mainstream crypto adoption was wrong. Pollak stated that the entire social-focused market segment "completely collapsed," as users primarily come on-chain for trading, payments, yield, and speculation—not for social interactions themselves.
The pivot comes amid rising competitive pressure, notably from the rapid growth of Robinhood Chain, which leverages Robinhood's user base and tokenized stock offerings. Base's new direction centers on three core pillars: winning in trading (including tokenized assets), enabling global stablecoin payments, and supporting AI agents as new economic participants. Pollak emphasized that Base's strengths lie in its Coinbase-backed compliance, developer ecosystem, and financial infrastructure, positioning it to compete as a leading settlement layer for the next generation of on-chain finance.
链捕手07/16 05:45
