Base Creator Jesse Pollak Joins Coinbase Executive Team

Jesse Pollak, the team lead for Ethereum’s Layer 2 blockchain Base, has taken on a new role within Coinbase’s executive team.

Alongside his continued leadership of the Base project, Pollak will now head Coinbase Wallet, reinforcing the company’s mission to broaden the accessibility of blockchain technology for a larger audience.

In a recent social media post, Pollak explained that his leadership of Base and Coinbase Wallet is a deliberate strategy. He highlighted that the two initiatives share a common objective: simplifying the process of bringing users on-chain and connecting them to the diverse range of products in the decentralised economy.

“Now, we’ll be able to work more closely to make this happen,”

Pollak remarked.

Despite taking on this new role, Pollak reassured the community that Base will stay true to its core principles of decentralisation and openness. He emphasised,

“Base will remain committed to being inclusive, serving as a bridge rather than an island, and staying decentralised and open source.”

Pollak also affirmed that Coinbase Wallet would continue to uphold its mission of integrating with the broader on-chain ecosystem. By aligning Base’s values with Coinbase Wallet, Pollak intends to strengthen collaboration between both teams, ensuring they work cohesively toward a unified vision.

Many industry experts and analysts congratulated Pollak on his new role and described it as a promising step for both Base and Coinbase Wallet. Pseudonymous crypto analyst Altcoin Psycho expressed optimism on X, stating that Pollak’s appointment signals potential for greater mainstream adoption of crypto.

Meanwhile, Coinbase’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Emilie Choi, shared in a post that Manish Gupta, the former engineering vice president, had left the company to “start a new chapter.” Pollak will be stepping into Gupta’s role as engineering vice president.

Pollak previously led Coinbase’s consumer and retail engineering teams from January 2018 to September 2021, and he played a key role in the development of Coinbase Pro and Coinbase Wallet.

This appointment follows Coinbase’s recent launch of “Coinbase Wrapped Bitcoin” (cbBTC), an ERC-20 token fully backed by Bitcoin at a 1:1 ratio. Designed to boost Bitcoin’s utility in DeFi, cbBTC allows millions of Coinbase users to securely access Ethereum-based financial apps using their Bitcoin. It also builds on Coinbase’s efforts to enhance Bitcoin’s functionality, including its recent integration of the Lightning Network for instant, low-cost payments, enabling Bitcoin use across Ethereum and Base.

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