On September 10, the Coinbase exchange announced the rebranding of Base App back to Coinbase Wallet. Product Lead Ryan Cass explained in a comment to The Block that the application had expanded beyond the ecosystem of the Base L2 network.
Base App is now Coinbase Wallet.
— Coinbase Wallet (@coinbasewallet) September 10, 2026
Built for speed. Trade anything, anywhere, without asking permission. pic.twitter.com/Z1tlIWyI4X
"The name Coinbase Wallet more accurately reflects the product's role as Coinbase's non-custodial entry point to the 'exchange for everything'," he stated.
From Social Features to Trading
Base App was conceived as an application that would combine trading, user communication, payments, and mini-apps. One of the project's features was creator and individual publication tokens: users could buy them, and content creators would receive a share of the proceeds.
Coinbase Launched Base App — a "Super App" with a Social Network and Payments
However, in March of this year, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong admitted in a podcast with David Senra that the social experiment did not yield the expected results. According to him, the model lacked a sufficiently robust economy to sustain long-term buyer interest in such tokens. Therefore, the team shifted its focus to trading.
In July, the product's leadership also changed. Base creator Jesse Pollak handed over management of the application to Jordan Fish, known under the pseudonym Cobie, and himself focused on blockchain development.
"I was definitely mistaken. I don't know if the issue was only timing or the idea itself. [...] I long believed that only social products could bring a billion users into the crypto industry. Now I am convinced that's not the case," Pollak wrote at the time.
Competition with Robinhood
With the shift to a trading model, Coinbase expanded the list of supported networks. Among them was Robinhood Chain — the blockchain of the competing platform Robinhood.
In a conversation with Decrypt, Cass explained that the rivalry between the companies should not limit the choice of assets in the wallet. According to him, access to different ecosystems will help attract users, and they will decide where to trade themselves.
Cass noted the current popularity of Robinhood Chain, naming speed and low fees as advantages of Base. He believes traders' interest in networks changes cyclically.
"We believe it's cyclical, and when interest returns to Base Chain, Coinbase Wallet will be ready," said the Coinbase representative.
The wallet will also become a platform for testing new assets and products. Cass emphasized that many tools first appear in Coinbase Wallet and then make their way into the exchange's main retail application.
Social features are not excluded from future plans. However, the team now intends to develop them based on user demand rather than making them the foundation of the product.
To recall, in the first week after launching its public mainnet, Robinhood Chain became a leader in DEX volume. Read more about what's behind the hype and how the network is structured in a special article.
Robinhood Chain Bursts into the Top DEX Rankings: What's Behind the Hype
