A day after acquiring Coinbase’s trading products and core app, its new leader hasn’t hit the talking points. Instead, Kobe offered a frank, internal diagnosis that most stock market executives avoid publicly. He said Coinbase has been out of touch with native cryptocurrency users for a long time. The evaluation came in response to a question about how the core application can attract onchain users after trust in the ecosystem has been damaged, according to what he said. Original report From Wu Blockchain.
Copy stressed that he is not responsible for the underlying network itself, but only the application and trading products. But the distinction doesn’t matter to users who experience Coinbase and Base as a single platform. Acceptance occurs when the stock exchange is fighting a multi-front battle over regulation, market structure and now internal credibility. wave of Pressure on banks at the last minute Opposition to the landmark cryptocurrency bill in the Senate only adds to the feeling that centralized platforms can no longer rely on branding alone.
The trust deficit hits both Coinbase and Base
Kobe did not smooth over the damage. He said both Coinbase and Base had severely eroded user trust through a series of avoidable mistakes, including what he described as “today’s incident.” The nature of this incident has not been made clear on the exchange, but the sequence indicates a deeper pattern of operational errors that alienate users who build and interact with the chain. Losing that constituency is costly. Native users pay for usage, liquidity, and validator attention. When they move elsewhere, network effects weaken.
It is a structural problem that has been built up. Coinbase went public, built institutional custody, and chased regulatory clarity — all moves that brought in capital but weakened the pool advantage that first made the exchange relevant. At the same time, platforms like Sui are attracting institutional demand for institutional stakes and achieving fintech integrations Send 18% SUI in one sessiondemonstrating that local participation and institutional funds do not have to be trade-offs for every project. The challenge for Coinbase is that it now has to regain the user base it let go while still holding on to the regulated infrastructure it built.
What Kobe plans to change
His solution seems deceptively simple: listen closely to onchain users and build products they actually want to use. This may mean removing layers that were added for compliance or convenience but frustrating developers and traders who are accustomed to direct interaction with the protocol. It is not yet clear whether this translates into faster iterations of the core application, reduced friction for bridging assets, or a different fee structure.
The timing is accurate. Onchain activity leans towards tokenizing assets in the real world, with The RWA market exceeds $20 billion Corporate settlements became weekly headlines. If Coinbase can’t regain original user enthusiasm, it risks becoming a custodian handling regulated token assets while the permissionless side of cryptocurrencies operates elsewhere. Kobe’s initial comments indicate he knows the clock is ticking.
No product roadmap has been provided, and the size of the trust gap means that no single update will be able to fix it. Right now, what’s notable is that someone inside Coinbase said it out loud. In an industry where public statements are usually cleared of anything resembling suspicion, this admission is in itself a signal.
However, talk is cheap. Onchain users have heard apologies before. The question is whether Kobe’s decisions about the product — starting with the basic application — will match the frankness of his diagnosis. The first test will be what ships in the coming weeks and whether the exchange can prevent local developers from looking elsewhere for a chain that feels like it was built for them, not just the compliance department.
