Base App Pivots to Trading-First Model: The Engine for the Onchain Economy Just Got a Turbocharger

Base, the Ethereum L2 built by Coinbase, just ripped up its roadmap. The platform is now laser-focused on one thing: becoming the primary trading venue for the onchain economy.

From Jack-of-All-Trades to Trading Powerhouse

Gone are the days of trying to be everything to everyone. The shift to a trading-first model means every upgrade, every integration, and every line of code is now geared towards one outcome—execution speed, liquidity depth, and trader experience. It's a direct shot across the bow of traditional exchanges and fragmented DeFi protocols.

Powering the Onchain Flywheel

This isn't just an app update; it's an economic realignment. By prioritizing trading, Base aims to become the indispensable liquidity layer. More trades attract more liquidity, which lowers costs and draws in more users—a classic network effect flywheel, but now supercharged onchain. They're betting that the future of finance isn't just on the blockchain, but routed through their specific infrastructure.

The Cynical Take: Because Wall Street Never Sleeps

Let's be real—this is about capturing the fee-generating heart of finance before someone else does. It's a pivot from 'building the future' to 'banking the future,' a move so shrewd it would make a legacy investment banker smirk (right before they short it).

The bottom line? Base is no longer just a bridge to the onchain world. It's positioning itself as the exchange floor, the order book, and the settlement layer—all rolled into one. The race to own the financial stack just entered a new, hyper-competitive lap.

User feedback drives trading-first focus

On his thread, jesse.base.eth explained the new direction as making the Base App trading-first, to have the ability to push demand and distribution of all assets, and to be the best app at whatever you do in the onchain economy. He has identified three key themes in user feedback. Several respondents have requested high-quality assets, and interaction with such assets is cited as one of the applications. 

Tl;dr: We’re focusing the Base app to be trading-first to drive demand and distribution for every asset and to be the best app for whatever you do in the onchain economy.

Since announcing the Base app in July, hundreds of thousands of you have used the app to create, trade,…

— jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) January 14, 2026

The update showed that the Base App will be use-case-oriented and provide a broader selection of assets. It declared that on a tokenized and tradable world, the ambition is to move demand and distribution everywhere, and that the app WOULD be the ideal location for trading and using all assets.

The change raised questions on the suitability of mini apps, which had been sold as consumer experience tools and onboarding creators, to the new focus. Juampi.eth, in a response, questioned the relevance of mini apps and stated that he considered the finance-first strategy to align with previous feedback. He stated that he was looking forward to seeing how the Base App evolves in what he referred to as a new tokenized era.

In reply to that, jesse.base.eth said that mini apps are still a priority. He said that miniapps will still be part of this vision, and the team is working on improving discoverability and refining tooling to measure their performance. The tooling has leaderboards and impact measures, including the number of people mini apps have onboarded. He further stated that the aim of transitioning to the trading-first model is to MOVE more distribution, rather than less, which suggests that mini apps will also benefit from the distribution focus.

Armstrong outlines retail and multichain priorities

Brian Armstrong also shared some words on the development of the Base App. He confirmed that the product is still in iteration mode following its launch. In the future, Armstrong indicated that the app would target retail investors and traders, with the latter segment expected to grow. He further explained that the feed will be extended to cover a larger range of assets and assist all those building on the foundation.

Armstrong also indicated that the Base App will be multi-chain, with Base being its main focus, allowing users to access anything they desire onchain using the product. He stated that the goal is to establish an environment that enables innovation and onchain to build as a result of concentrating on introducing more demand.

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