coindesk.com
Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) has unveiled a sweeping rebrand and technological overhaul of its Base ecosystem, introducing a new suite of consumer and developer tools that expands its scope far beyond its origins as an Ethereum layer-2 blockchain.
At the heart of the announcement is the transformation of Coinbase Wallet into the “Base App” — an all-in-one platform designed to merge finance, messaging, content creation, and decentralized applications under a single roof.
“Base is evolving to be more than a chain,” the company said in a blog post shared with CoinDesk.
The Base App aims to be a Web3-native alternative combining trading, payments, social networking, messaging, and mini apps in a decentralized environment. Built atop protocols such as Farcaster (for social) and XMTP (for chat), Base App users will be able to post content, chat with friends, send USDC with tap-to-pay, and earn rewards directly through their activity. In addition, the Base App will introduce a mini app ecosystem, with embedded applications that users can discover and interact with directly in their feed.
Those that have the Coinbase Wallet application in their phones will automatically have it switched to the Base app in the next few hours.
Base’s rebrand also includes performance upgrades to the layer-2 network. Base Chain, previously just “Base,” will have block times drop from 2 seconds to 200 milliseconds — which should improve the user experience.
As the Base ecosystem grows, Coinbase is also introducing Base Account and Base Pay to round out the product suite.
Base Account acts as a cross-chain identity and smart wallet that automatically provisions upon signup. Users can now “Sign in with Base” across compatible dapps, taking their identity with them.
Base Pay introduces a streamlined USDC checkout flow, with integrations already live on Shopify. Coinbase says the payment system allows instant, fee-free transfers in USDC and will soon include 1% cashback incentives for U.S. customers.
With this new direction, Coinbase is positioning Base as more than an Ethereum scaling solution.
“This isn’t something we’re building alone. It’s being shaped by thousands of developers, creators, and communities building on Base every day,” the team wrote in a press release.
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