Coinbase Launches Base App as COIN Hits Record $101B Market Cap

A Social, Creator-Friendly, AI-Driven Onchain Platform

“We’re going from a single-player tool to a network,” John Granata, Director of Product at Coinbase, told Decrypt. “It’s very social forward—because that’s how people trade, send payments, find friends, and build apps together.”

Base allows creators to tokenize their posts—whether text, images, or videos—and monetize them directly on-chain. Posts that go viral can translate into tangible earnings for creators.

“If your post goes viral, you can earn a lot more due to the ways that you can monetize on the platform,” Granata added. “This marks a major shift for creators who’ve never earned directly from their media.”

Roman Coppola, filmmaker and co-founder of Decentralized Pictures, helped develop Base. He praised the platform’s promise for creatives: “The decentralized dream is coming true. The broader theme here is creators having more control and earning rewards from their work.”

The app also includes AI integrations:

Curated user feeds

Smart transaction assistance

AI video editing & annotations

End-to-end encrypted messaging

“2025 is the year of AI agents,” said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong during his keynote. “And crypto is the perfect tool for them.”

Infrastructure for a Billion Users

Base runs on open protocols like Farcaster (social), XMTP (messaging), and Zora (monetization), staying true to the principles of transparency and decentralization.

Armstrong framed Base within Coinbase’s long-term mission: “Coinbase was founded 13 years ago to increase economic freedom in the world. We fixed on-ramping with Coinbase. Base offers fast, cheap transactions globally. Now we’re assembling the Lego pieces for an onchain economy for a billion people.”

COIN and MSTR Hit Record Valuations

The app launch came as Coinbase stock (COIN) soared to an all-time high of $405.88, closing at $398.20—a 6.5% weekly gain. Its market cap of $101.42 billion marked the highest in company history.

Meanwhile, MicroStrategy (MSTR)—now rebranded as Strategy—reached a market cap of $128 billion, driven by its $72 billion in Bitcoin holdings. Though its share price didn’t top its 2024 high of $542.99, the increase in outstanding shares enabled the record valuation. MSTR closed at $455.90, up 10% over the week.

In a report by Decrypt, analysts noted that both Coinbase and MicroStrategy are now viewed as “infrastructure plays” in the institutional crypto space—not just speculative vehicles.

Institutional Confidence on the Rise

The surge in Coinbase and MicroStrategy signals increasing trust in institutional crypto infrastructure. Coinbase is emerging as the leading regulated gateway to digital assets, while MicroStrategy is widely viewed as a publicly traded proxy for Bitcoin.

Other crypto equities also posted strong gains:

Upexi (UPXI) and DeFi Development Corp (DFDV) (Solana-linked) surged 40% and 23%
SharpLink Gaming (SBET) and BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) (Ethereum-linked) saw double-digit gains
Bitcoin miners MARA Holdings (MARA) and CleanSpark (CLSK) rose over 3%

Coinbase as Web3’s Infrastructure Backbone

As Base rolls out and investor confidence soars, Coinbase is positioning itself as the backbone of Web3’s next evolution. By combining social, AI, financial tools, and decentralized protocols, Base aims to be the default onchain platform for everyday users and creators alike.

As the bullish sentiment continues, the launch of Base may mark a new era—not just for Coinbase, but for how people live, work, and create on-chain.