Coinbase rebrands Base App back to Coinbase Wallet after just over a year as social experiment falls short

Coinbase (COIN) is rebranding the Base App back to Coinbase Wallet, reversing the name change it made just over a year ago as the company shifts the self-custodial app toward trading and broader multichain access.

Coinbase Wallet will act as a "test kitchen" for products and assets that may not be available through Coinbase's centralized exchange, Ryan Kass, Head of Coinbase Wallet Product, told The Block. The first example is perpetual futures powered by Hyperliquid, with the wallet also supporting long-tail assets and aiming to add new chains as they launch. Prediction markets and tokenized stocks are also supported. As all trading on Coinbase Wallet takes place onchain, it also allows users to follow their favorite traders to "gain additional alpha," Kass said.

Explaining the move, Coinbase said the Base App had evolved into a broader, multichain trading platform, making it sensible to bring back the Coinbase Wallet name while retaining the best parts of the Base App.

"Coinbase prides itself on being able to move quickly and pivot when needed," Kass said when asked what made the firm change course so quickly. "The Coinbase Wallet name better captures the product's role as Coinbase's self-custodial front door to the 'everything exchange.' While Base app was an opinionated experiment, Coinbase Wallet gives users access to all of onchain finance."

Coinbase is pitching the wallet around "no KYC, no waiting, and no borders," saying users can download the app and start trading within minutes, with access to new assets sooner. However, some features remain subject to geographic restrictions, according to its website.

The wallet will remain self-custodial, with users retaining their own keys. Assets are available by default once they are minted on a supported chain, Kass said, and Coinbase Wallet will detect and hide scam or malicious tokens. However, new markets and asset classes, like predictions or tokenized stocks, go through "vigorous product and compliance reviews" before appearing in the app, he added.

Coinbase monetizes the wallet via trading and product fees, though it declined to share more details on the fee structure. Coinbase also declined to disclose whether the shift toward trading has increased the app's user numbers.

Base App rebrand reversal

Coinbase renamed Coinbase Wallet as the Base App in July 2025, pitching it as an "everything app" combining social networking, mini-apps, messaging, payments, and trading. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said in March that the Base app social experiment "didn't quite work" and that the app had pivoted toward trading and becoming a self-custodial version of Coinbase's main app.

In July, Base creator Jesse Pollak handed leadership of the app to Jordan "Cobie" Fish after also acknowledging that some of its social and creator features had fallen short. During an interview on The Starting Block podcast, Pollak told The Block that the product would become "less Base-centric" as it expanded into an all-encompassing trading platform.

Coinbase Wallet supports Base, Robinhood Chain, Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Chain, Monad, Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, and Avalanche following the rebrand, with plans to continue expanding. Robinhood Chain and Monad are new additions compared with the networks supported previously by the Base App.

Nevertheless, Base will still have a prominent role in Coinbase Wallet. "Base remains central to Coinbase Wallet, and you'll see Base assets naturally appear in the app as they trend, Kass said. "We believe surfacing Base assets alongside other leading networks provides a great opportunity for discovery."