Jesse Pollak Exits Base Leadership Role After Calling On-Chain Social a Failure

Jesse Pollak, the creator of

Pollak said that the company underestimated how key financial applications would be for the next phase of crypto adoption.

This came after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong made similar comments about the app. He also shared that the company’s content coin strategy had not worked.

“They didn’t work and we pivoted early this year. We messed up, time to turn the page,” he said.

The company has already started making changes. Earlier this year, it shut down its Creator Rewards program and removed its Farcaster-powered social feed. The rewards program had launched in July 2025 and was meant to help creators earn income through engagement.

Leadership changes as focus shifts to finance

As part of the transition, Pollak is handing responsibility for Base back to Coinbase. The app will now be managed by Jordan Fish, also known as Cobie. Fish is a well-known investor and the founder of Echo, a startup funding platform that Coinbase bought last year for $375 million. 

Meanwhile, Pollak will now return to developing the blockchain itself. His goal is to change the Base app into what he calls “the blockchain for global finance.” This means building a system that is designed for payments, trading, and other functions.

Pollak also said that Base could still be among the top settlement layers for global money movement in the next couple of years. Last week, the network launched its B20 token standard on mainnet. This was built to support stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets more efficiently.

Also, this year, the company launched Base MCP. This is a tool that allows users to manage crypto assets with AI chat interfaces. The system connects with many protocols like Morpho, Moonwell, Uniswap, Aerodrome, Avantis, Bankr, and Virtuals.

Source:: Jesse Pollak Exits Base Leadership Role After Calling On-Chain Social a Failure