Briefly:
- Coinbase is investing in creating a platform for developers to build useful blockchain products.
- Coinbase recently launched Base, an Ethereum layer two sandbox for decentralized applications, along with companies like Chainlink and Aave.
- Coinbase’s culture of innovation is reflected in its large bets on projects such as the NFT Market, Base, and USDC.
When most people think of Coinbase, a US-listed cryptocurrency company, the first thing that comes to mind may not be product innovation. In Denver ETH, Coinbase Head of Protocols Jesse Pollack says the company intends to change that.
“If you look at the history of Coinbase and cryptocurrency over the past 10 years, it has been very focused on trading,” Pollack said. Decode. “Our investment in Base is an investment in creating a platform that makes it easier for developers to build useful products on an on-chain platform, and then makes it easier for users to use those products through interfaces like Coinbase. and Coinbase Wallet.”
Last month, Coinbase — also the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the US — released Base, an Ethereum layer two sandbox for decentralized applications. Coinbase was joined at launch by several high-profile blockchain companies, including Chainlink oracle network, Ethereum block explorer Etherscan, and DeFi protocol Aave.
In January, Coinbase added new features to its Coinbase wallet, including transaction previews, token approval alerts, a block list of reported dApps, and a spam token manager that automatically hides malicious airdrops.
In April 2022, Coinbase launched an NFT marketplace that was not as successful as the company had hoped.
“The first version of the product didn’t work as well as we’d like it to,” Pollack said. “But we’ve been iterating quickly this past year, and I think we’re seeing a lot of signs of life and more growth there.”
For Pollack, the experience with the NFT market is indicative of Coinbase’s culture of innovation: placing big bets on big projects like the NFT market, Base, and USDC.
“We launched the NFT Market last year with the main goal being to help people coming from the off-chain world access NFTs, learn about them, and participate in this emerging economy,” he said.
In ETH Denver, Coinbase announced the acquisition of One River Management, a digital asset management firm, which the cryptocurrency exchange plans to integrate into Coinbase’s new Asset Management line. Pollack claims that this will help Coinbase gain new clients as a registered investment advisor.
“That’s our mission, and that’s why we’re here,” Pollack said. “We are here to create useful applications that can be made available globally to increase economic freedom and lead billions of people to a better lifestyle.”