Base Architect Jesse Pollak ‘Stepping Up’ to Lead Coinbase Wallet, Join Exchange’s Exec Team

Jesse Pollak, the creator behind Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain Base, announced on Monday that he will be “stepping up” to lead Coinbase Wallet.

In addition to his current role, he said he will be joining the executive team at the publicly listed crypto exchange. It’s unclear exactly what title he will be given under his new role as an executive. Decrypt has reached out to learn more.

The Base creator’s new responsibilities were shared via social media, where he emphasized a shared mission between Base and Coinbase Wallet “of bringing a billion people and a million builders on-chain.”

“Base and Coinbase Wallet share the same north star: make it dead simple for the world to come on-chain,” Pollak tweeted to his 140,000 followers on Monday.

In 2022, Pollak took on the role of creating and scaling Base, which Coinbase described as “a ‘bridge’ for users into the crypto economy.”

In his statement, Pollak noted that while the collaboration with Coinbase Wallet will bring the teams closer, Base will continue upholding its core values of being open to everyone, bridging communities, and maintaining its decentralized framework.

Coinbase Wallet, one of the industry’s many self-custody crypto wallets, allows users to manage their assets across multiple blockchains and engage with decentralized applications (dApps). 

Pollak stated under his leadership, the wallet will continue to serve the entire on-chain ecosystem and start integrating the open-source principles and accessibility ethos that Base embodies.

Since its inception, Base has quickly established itself as a decentralized, open-source Ethereum Layer 2 platform that recently surpassed $2.24 billion in total value locked, DefiLlama data shows.

Pollak has a long-standing journey with Coinbase, joining the company over seven years ago and quickly rising up the ranks. He has held various roles leading engineering teams for the company’s retail products, including Coinbase and Coinbase Pro.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair