Odaily Planet Daily reports: Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently said on David Senra’s podcast that the SocialFi feature experiment launched last year on the Base app "did not truly succeed."
Armstrong said the feature was initially just an experiment, but its actual performance fell short of expectations, so Coinbase has adjusted its product direction, refocusing the Base App on trading functionality and the self-custody wallet experience to make it closer to a "self-custody version of the Coinbase app."
In July 2025, Coinbase relaunched its non-custodial wallet, Coinbase Wallet, as the Base App, positioning it as an on-chain "super app" integrating social, messaging, gaming, and trading features. Among these, Jesse Pollak, head of the Base team, notably promoted the Creator Coin feature, which allows users to tokenize creator accounts or social content; users can purchase associated tokens by liking or interacting, thereby generating revenue for creators.
However, over time, these SocialFi features were gradually phased out. In early 2026, Pollak stated on social media that the app had previously been “too social-focused” and would shift toward a product experience centered on financial functionality. Subsequently, Base also removed the social feed powered by Farcaster.
Although some creator tokens briefly gained attention, most failed to maintain their value. For example, journalist Nick Shirley’s creator token, $thenickshirley, reached a market capitalization of $15 million after being promoted by Armstrong, but subsequently declined sharply.
Armstrong said that during the SocialFi experiment, some posts generated thousands of dollars in value on-chain, but the overall model has yet to evolve into a sustainable product form.