Base Founder: Betting on Social was 'Completely Wrong,' App Handed Over to Coinbase Base founder Jesse shared a post reflecting on the past six months and the strategic direction for Q1 2026. He admitted that the previous bet on 'social' driving the next wave of crypto adoption (Farcaster, Zora, miniapps, creator coins) was completely wrong, as this sector has entirely collapsed. On the other hand, the bet on 'developer-driven adoption' turned out to be correct. However, due to an excessive focus on the social direction, Base has fallen behind competitors in key areas like perpetual contracts and prediction markets. He stated that the focus has now shifted back to the underlying chain itself, re-evaluating previous assumptions and concluding that 'a better currency' alone is sufficient to drive large-scale crypto adoption without relying on social. At the same time, he announced that the Base App has been handed back to its parent company, Coinbase, with Cobie taking over operations. Pollak mentioned that in 2026, the company will focus on three main areas: trading, payments, and agents (smart agents), and welcomed competitors like Robinhood and Stripe to join the race.