Crypto: Jesse Pollak Admits He Was Wrong, Base Missed the Train on Perps and Prediction Betting

The blockchain application ecosystem is evolving rapidly, and network priorities change at the pace of usage. Several players are now reassessing their strategic choices to meet user expectations. In this context, crypto takes a new turn with statements from Jesse Pollak, creator of Base. He publicly acknowledges that the platform took a wrong direction by favoring social experiences. He now believes that this choice caused a loss of valuable time in the face of the rise of prediction markets and perpetual contracts.

Crypto: Jesse Pollak Acknowledges a Strategic Mistake for Base

In the cryptocurrency universe, strategies evolve quickly with new usage trends. Jesse Pollak announced that he is leaving the leadership of the Base app after admitting he made a bad strategic bet. In a message posted Wednesday on X, he explains that he believed that creation, content, and messaging applications would encourage the adoption of digital assets. This approach was meant to attract a broad audience to the Base ecosystem. He now thinks this vision did not materialize as he had anticipated.

We realized that our focus on social caused our base to fall behind in key areas that are now increasingly critical: we had prediction platforms (big thanks to Avantis!) and prediction markets (big thanks to Limitless!), but both were far behind our larger competitors.

Jesse Pollak, founder of Base. Source: X/@jessepollak.

According to Pollak, this priority on social usage slowed the development of segments that have become essential. He notably cites prediction markets and perpetual futures contracts, which now occupy a central place in decentralized finance. Base had solutions in these areas with Limitless for prediction markets and Avantis for perpetual products. However, these platforms remained largely behind the main competitors.

The leader highlights that “this awareness explains the change in course initiated earlier this year.” The initial goal was to democratize cryptocurrencies through social products like Farcaster, Zora, and mini-applications. Now, Base focuses more on financial applications, including trading, payments, and AI agents.

Prediction Markets and Perps Have Taken the Lead

Available figures illustrate the delay mentioned by Jesse Pollak. Dune Analytics data show that Limitless represented only 0.5% of the total monthly notional volume recorded on all prediction markets during July. This share remains very limited compared to the sector’s largest platforms.

On the side of perpetual contracts, the situation appears similar. Avantis ranks 18th among platforms sorted by their 30-day notional trading volume, according to DeFiLlama data. These results confirm that the tools developed on Base have not kept pace with growth observed among several competitors.

For the crypto ecosystem, this evolution shows that user expectations have shifted more quickly towards financial applications. Prediction markets and crypto platforms have progressively gained importance. Pollak thus believes that Base underestimated this dynamic while these products were becoming pillars of the sector.

Coinbase Takes Over Leadership of the Base App

Following this reorganization, Jesse Pollak indicated he would hand over the direction of the Base app to Coinbase. It will be placed under the responsibility of Jordan Fish, better known on X under the pseudonym “Cobie“. Pollak specifies that he will now dedicate his time to developing the Base blockchain.

Regarding the app, my goal is to make Base the go-to blockchain infrastructure for global finance. In this respect, I entrusted the development of the Base app to the parent company, Coinbase, where my now good friend @cobie will take over. His objective will be to make it the best on-chain app ever created, notably by opening it beyond the Base ecosystem, in a way that, to be honest, I probably won’t like as Base’s leader.

Jesse Pollak, founder of Base. Source: X/@jessepollak.

This announcement comes a few days after another important stance within Coinbase. Its CEO, Brian Armstrong, admitted that content-related cryptocurrencies did not produce expected results. He stated that “the company made a mistake, and it was time to pursue a new strategy.”

This reorientation had already started several months earlier. In February, Base ended its Creator Rewards program as well as its social feed Farcaster. Launched in July 2025, this program aimed to transform Ethereum’s Layer 2 into a more social environment where content creation could generate income. Pollak also admits that the Base app was an imperfect Farcaster client. This change illustrates a new direction more focused on tradable assets.

Base Now Accelerates on Stablecoins, RWAs, and AI Agents

Base’s repositioning is not limited to dropping some social products. Last week, the network activated its B20 token standard on the mainnet. This native framework aims to facilitate the development of stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, and other fungible tokens.

Some weeks earlier, Base also introduced Base MCP, or Model Context Protocol. This tool allows users to manage their cryptocurrencies directly from an AI model chat interface. It also facilitates interactions with multiple protocols, including Morpho, Moonwell, Uniswap, Aerodrome, Avantis, Bankr, and Virtuals.

This strategy fits into a broader roadmap unveiled in spring. In April, Base announced several upgrades to its systems to prepare for an economy increasingly driven by AI agents.

The company had already identified stablecoins, real-world asset tokenization, and prediction markets as its main growth areas for 2026. In this new crypto phase, Pollak states he wants to build blockchain infrastructure capable of sustainably supporting global finance. He explains that “the goal is to make Base a network where financial flows can progressively organize on a large scale.”

This reorientation marks a new step for Base. The coming months will show if this focus on financial applications, stablecoins, tokenized assets, and AI agents allows the network to close its gap with established platforms. The success of this strategy will now depend on its ability to translate these priorities into real adoption while continuing to develop its blockchain infrastructure.