Coinbase’s NFT Marketplace and Ethereum Layer-2 Network

• The head of protocols at Coinbase shared the plan for NFT marketplace and Base.
• The company is working to change the misconception of people as it is ready to do product innovation, its head of protocols said.

At ETH Denver, Coinbase’s head of protocols Jesse Pollak said that the company is aiming to change the thoughts of most people. As he said “If we look at the history of Coinbase and crypto over the last 10 years, it’s been very trading-centric. Our investment in Base is an investment in creating a platform that makes it easy for developers to build useful products on an on-chain platform, and then makes it easy for users to use those products through interfaces like Coinbase and Coinbase Wallet.”

Base is an Ethereum layer-2 sandbox for decentralized applications. Coinbase– a crypto exchange, launched Base last month. And joining Coinbase in the launch includes some blockchain companies such as oracle network Chainlink, Ethereum block explorer Etherscan, and DeFi protocol Aave.

Earlier this year, the crypto exchange added new features to its Coinbase Wallet. The feature includes transaction previews, token approval alerts, a blocklist of flagged dApps, and a spam token manager that automatically hides malicious airdrops.

Coinbase step-in into NFT marketplace

Back in time, Coinbase launched a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace in April last year. But it did not catch on as per the expectation of crypto exchange. Pollak said “The first version of the product didn’t work as well as we’d like to. But we’ve been iterating quickly on that over the last year, and I think we’re seeing a lot more signs of life and a lot more growth there.”

According to Pollak, the experience with the NFT marketplace is indicative of the innovation culture at Coinbase and took big bets on some big projects like NFTs, Base, and USDC. Pollak said “We launched the NFT marketplace last year and the goal was basically to help folks coming from the off-chain world access NFTs, learn about them, and participate in this economy that’s emerging.”

Along with ETH Denver, the crypto exchange announced the acquisition of a digital asset management company— One River Management. After acquiring the management company, Coinbase plans to enter into its new Coinbase asset management business line.

As Pollak said this will help the crypto exchange to bring new customers as a registered investment advisor. He added “That’s our mission; that’s why we’re here. We’re here to create useful applications that can be globally available that increase economic freedom and bring billions of people into a better way of living.”

On the other hand, the recent tweet from Base states that “The ‘Base, Introduced’ NFT is evolving.

Before that, Base also mentioned in a tweet that “the latest evolution of ‘Base, Introduced’ represents decentralization.”