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Coinbase Wallet Returns as the Base App Pivots to Multichain Trading

By Isaac • September 10, 2026 7:09 pm • Comments

Coinbase is bringing back a familiar name, but this is more than a branding do-over.

The company has renamed Base App as Coinbase Wallet and is repositioning the self-custody product around trading across multiple blockchains. The move puts a clearer label on what Coinbase now wants the app to be: a fast, permissionless doorway into a much wider range of onchain markets.

Decrypt reported that Coinbase Wallet head of product Ryan Kass described the app as a place where users can reach assets regardless of the network they live on. The product is expanding beyond Base with support for networks such as Solana and Robinhood Chain.

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The trading menu also reaches beyond ordinary token swaps. Coinbase is adding perpetual futures through Hyperliquid and access to tokenized stocks across multiple chains.

Kass framed the wallet as a faster testing ground for assets and experiences that may not yet be offered through Coinbase’s centralized exchange. He also said the company wants users, rather than a corporate preference for one chain, to decide what and where they trade.

The timing helps explain the pivot. Coinbase introduced Base App roughly 14 months ago as a combined home for trading, social networking, messaging, AI tools and creator monetization, but the social layer did not become the app’s defining use.

That social-first approach never became the center of gravity Coinbase hoped it would be. Trading did.

The Block’s account of the shift says the wallet now supports more than 10 networks and is meant to act as Coinbase’s self-custodial front door to onchain finance. Prediction markets and tokenized stocks are part of that wider pitch, alongside long-tail crypto assets that may not be available on Coinbase’s centralized exchange.

That distinction matters. A centralized exchange decides which assets and products it will list for customers.

A self-custody wallet can connect users to a broader onchain universe, with users keeping control of their keys and interacting directly with supported networks and applications.

Coinbase says the broader wallet strategy does not mean it is abandoning Base. The network remains one of the app’s supported ecosystems, and Base assets and communities will still be distributed through the product.

What changes is the frame: the wallet is no longer being presented as an app tied mainly to one chain or one social experiment.

The company is also using Coinbase Wallet as a testing ground. New chains, markets and trading experiences can appear there before they reach Coinbase’s main retail exchange.

That gives Coinbase a faster way to follow onchain demand while maintaining a more tightly controlled listing process on its centralized platform.

There are tradeoffs. A wider universe of assets means users must pay closer attention to smart-contract risk, liquidity, network fees and scams. Coinbase says the wallet detects and hides malicious tokens, but self-custody also leaves the user responsible for keys and transaction approvals.

Still, the name change is a useful admission about where demand has moved. Coinbase tried to make the app a broad social destination.

It is now leaning into the reason many users opened a wallet in the first place: direct access to assets, markets and applications across the onchain economy.

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