Coinbase CEO Says Base’s Content Coins ‘Didn’t Work’
Coinbase Chief Government Brian Armstrong stated Base’s yearlong push into creator “content material cash” failed, telling a critic on X Monday that the Coinbase-incubated community “pivoted early this yr” away from the technique.
“They did not work and we pivoted early this yr. We tousled, time to show the web page,” Armstrong wrote in a reply to the X consumer @smileyXBT, who argued Base spent greater than a yr selling Zora’s creator-coin platform and tokens tied to figures together with investor Balaji Srinivasan and Base lead Jesse Pollak, “the place lots of people bought smoked.”
The token on the middle of that push has cratered. ZORA, the token of the onchain social platform Zora that equipped Base’s creator-coin tooling, has misplaced about 95% of its worth from its document excessive final August and is down roughly 19% over the previous 30 days, in contrast with a 3% dip in Bitcoin over the identical stretch, in line with CoinGecko. Its market capitalization has shrunk to about $30 million from roughly $800 million on the peak of the creator-coin frenzy final summer season, as The Defiant reported.
The concession is a uncommon public reckoning by a number one crypto govt over a technique Coinbase spent a lot of 2025 selling as a flagship shopper use for its blockchain. The creator-coin experiment briefly made Base, the most important Ethereum Layer 2 by whole worth locked, the busiest chain for brand spanking new token launches, earlier than exercise light and a run of high-profile cash collapsed. Armstrong’s remark marks Coinbase drawing a line beneath the hassle and redirecting Base towards buying and selling, funds and AI brokers.
Buying and selling, Funds, Brokers
Armstrong pushed again on the second half of the critic’s argument, which held that Base’s newer emphasis on AI brokers repeats the identical sample of chasing hype cycles. He stated Base’s roadmap has persistently prioritized “buying and selling, funds, and brokers (in that order),” calling the three “inextricably intertwined” as a result of brokers might want to commerce and make funds onchain.
“Many of the sources are going to buying and selling proper now fwiw,” Armstrong stated, including that the interior focus “possibly… would not translate externally proper now.” He supplied to name the critic to debate additional.
The submit from @smileyXBT that prompted the reply argued Base “gave extra shine to ex-coinbase initiatives than the broader ecosystem” and that creator cash have been promoted “even when some creators had shady monitor data.”
How the Content material-Coin Push Unraveled
Content material cash are tokens minted robotically from particular person social posts, whereas creator cash are tied to an individual’s profile. Each run by Zora, a creator-focused platform constructed on Base that turns posts into tradable property.
Base put its personal model behind the mannequin early. In April 2025, Base’s official X account minted a content material coin on Zora that spiked after which crashed about 95% inside hours, as The Defiant reported. Coinbase leaned in anyway, rebranding its pockets because the Base App in July and weaving Zora’s coin instruments right into a social feed. Day by day token creation surged, and Base overtook Solana because the main chain for brand spanking new token launches.
The momentum didn’t maintain. By December, even dedicated Base supporters have been writing off creator cash after the viral journalist Nick Shirley’s token collapsed roughly 80% inside two days of launch, The Defiant reported. In February 2026, Zora launched its latest product, “consideration markets,” on Solana relatively than Base, a transfer some within the Base group learn as a retreat, as The Defiant reported.
Pollak had already signaled the flip. In January, he stated the Base App had drifted too near a web2 expertise and that the crew would refocus it round buying and selling. Base’s 2026 roadmap, revealed in March, set its priorities as constructing world markets, scaling funds and stablecoins, and supporting AI brokers.
Base has since leaned into agentic funds, or transactions initiated autonomously by AI software program. The x402 protocol, which Coinbase created after which open-sourced, lets applications pay for providers equivalent to knowledge or compute by a single API name, and in June, Coinbase launched “Coinbase for Brokers,” a platform that lets AI assistants connect with consumer accounts to commerce and pay. The majority of x402 fee quantity settles on Base, and Coinbase has developed the usual alongside Microsoft, Google and Mastercard.
Coinbase is predicted to report second-quarter ends in the approaching weeks, which can provide the subsequent learn on how a lot of Base’s exercise the buying and selling pivot is profitable again.
