Coinbase Wallet returns as Base App shifts to trading

Coinbase has restored the Coinbase Wallet name just over a year after replacing it with Base App, positioning the self-custodial product around multichain trading, perpetual futures, prediction markets and tokenized stocks.

Coinbase confirmed through its official Google Play listing that the Base App has returned to the Coinbase Wallet name as the product focuses on multichain trading, transfers, and earning features.

Ryan Kass, head of Coinbase Wallet product, said in a statement that the wallet would function as a “test kitchen” for products and assets that Coinbase may not list on its centralized exchange. Long-tail tokens will appear once they are minted on supported networks, while the company plans to connect additional chains after they launch.

Trading inside the wallet takes place onchain, according to Kass. Users can also follow selected traders and view their activity, a feature he said may help them find trading opportunities.

Coinbase will keep the product self-custodial, meaning customers retain control of their private keys and assets. According to Kass, the wallet automatically identifies and hides tokens classified as scams or malicious assets.

Coinbase Wallet puts trading ahead of social features

Coinbase renamed Coinbase Wallet as Base App in July 2025, combining trading and payments with messaging, social feeds and mini-apps. The company promoted the product as an “everything app” built around its Base layer-2 network.

After the social features failed to attract the expected use, Coinbase began rebuilding the app around financial products. CEO Brian Armstrong said in March that the company’s social experiment “didn’t quite work,” while Base creator Jesse Pollak later acknowledged that creator-focused products had fallen short.

In July, Pollak handed leadership of the app to Jordan “Cobie” Fish and returned his attention to the Base blockchain. As crypto.news reported, Pollak said demand for social products had “disintegrated completely,” leaving Base behind competitors in prediction markets and perpetual futures.

Kass said Coinbase can change direction quickly when a product strategy fails to deliver the intended result. He described Base App as an “opinionated experiment” and said the restored name better explains its place within Coinbase’s product lineup.

“The Coinbase Wallet name better captures the product’s role as Coinbase’s self-custodial front door to the ‘everything exchange,’” Kass said. “While Base app was an opinionated experiment, Coinbase Wallet gives users access to all of onchain finance.”

Although the app is taking back its old name, Coinbase is retaining trading and financial features developed during the Base App period. Messaging and other selected functions will also remain available.

Hyperliquid perpetuals lead the trading push

Perpetual futures powered by Hyperliquid are the first example of the wallet’s testing-ground model. Coinbase added the integration in August, giving eligible users access to more than 290 markets and leverage of up to 50 times on certain contracts.

The Hyperliquid perpetuals launch covered contracts tied to Bitcoin, Ethereum, stocks and commodities. Hyperliquid executes the trades while users open and manage positions through the Coinbase interface.

Perpetual contracts allow traders to take leveraged long or short positions without owning the referenced asset. Unlike traditional futures, they do not expire, while funding payments between traders help keep contract prices close to spot prices.

Coinbase said the integration is unavailable in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, among other restricted markets. Leverage also depends on the selected asset, so not every contract carries the advertised 50x maximum.

For American customers, Coinbase operates a separate regulated futures service through Coinbase Financial Markets, a futures commission merchant registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and a member of the National Futures Association. The regulated service is separate from Hyperliquid trading inside Coinbase Wallet.

Under the new branding, Coinbase is promoting the wallet with the phrase “no KYC, no waiting, and no borders.” Its website states, however, that individual products remain subject to location-based limits, making access dependent on a user’s jurisdiction.

Coinbase earns revenue from trading and product fees inside the wallet. The company did not provide details about the fee structure or figures showing whether the trading focus has increased user numbers.

Tokenized stocks and prediction markets face product reviews

Coinbase Wallet also gives eligible customers access to prediction markets and tokenized stocks. According to Kass, Coinbase applies “vigorous product and compliance reviews” before adding a new market or asset class to the app.

Individual tokens follow a different process. Assets become available by default after they are minted on a supported chain, although the wallet’s detection system can hide tokens linked to scams or harmful activity.

Coinbase brought four tokenized U.S. stocks to Base in August, offering eligible non-U.S. investors onchain exposure to Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet. The 1:1-backed stock tokens were issued through a Coinbase-controlled company in the Abu Dhabi Global Market.

Each token represents a beneficial interest in an underlying share held through a segregated custody arrangement, according to the product prospectuses. The securities are not registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and cannot be offered or sold to U.S. persons.

Prediction markets carry separate access questions in the United States. Coinbase Financial Markets has argued that federally regulated event contracts fall under the CFTC’s authority, but several states have challenged sports-related contracts under their gambling laws.

In August, a federal judge denied Coinbase relief against enforcement by Michigan officials. The preliminary ruling left the underlying lawsuit unresolved while allowing the state to continue defending its sports betting authority.

Coinbase Wallet adds Robinhood Chain and Monad

Following the name change, Coinbase Wallet supports Base, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche, Monad, and Robinhood Chain. Robinhood Chain and Monad were not included on the Base App’s previous list of supported networks.

Multichain support reduces the app’s earlier focus on Coinbase’s own layer-2 network, although Kass said Base would remain central to the wallet. Assets issued on Base may appear as they gain market attention, alongside tokens from other supported networks.

“Base remains central to Coinbase Wallet, and you’ll see Base assets naturally appear in the app as they trend,” Kass said.

According to Kass, displaying Base assets beside products from other networks will give users additional ways to discover tokens available through the self-custodial app.