Asia Morning Briefing: Will Coinbase Refresh Its Wallet Brand for the Market?

Coinbase Hints at Wallet Rebrand Amid Base Expansion

Coinbase is preparing for big reveals at its “A New Day One” event—and the spotlight is firmly on its wallet, which seems destined for a new name as Base grows in prominence during the memecoin boom.

Despite speculation, Coinbase Wallet isn’t going away—but it is due for a fresh identity.

On the wallet’s X account, the name has been dramatically crossed out, replaced with “TBA” and question marks, setting off waves of curiosity.

“There’s a lot of guessing going on, but I think they’ll call it ‘The Base App,’” said Bradley Park, an analyst with DNTV Research in Seoul. “That would align perfectly with Base’s ambition to integrate various in-app experiences directly into the wallet.”

Jesse Pollak, who spearheaded Base, took over leadership of the Coinbase Wallet team last October, lending support to Park’s theory.

During an interview at Devcon in Bangkok last year, Pollak highlighted Base’s decentralized ethos. Observers believe the wallet’s rebrand could emphasize its decentralized nature and carve out distance from the broader Coinbase identity.

This wouldn’t be the wallet’s first name change—it originally launched as “Toshi” before being renamed to Coinbase Wallet in 2018.

Cathie Wood Applauds Ethereum’s ZK Plans

Meanwhile, Ethereum is capturing the interest of institutional players. ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood praised Ethereum’s strategy for scaling and privacy as the network unveils plans to embed zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) directly into its core protocol.

“Ethereum’s heading in the right direction to maintain its lead in the institutional space,” said Wood, who admitted some of the technical details remain outside her wheelhouse.

The proposed upgrade would enable validators to verify cryptographic proofs of block validity rather than executing every transaction again. These proofs could be confirmed in under 10 seconds on hardware costing below $100,000 and consuming under 10 kilowatts of power.

The move promises significant gains in speed and decentralization but introduces new risks. Transferring computational load to third-party provers could cause problems if those provers go offline or collude. The Ethereum Foundation is working to mitigate such risks through increased prover diversity, protocol safeguards, and eventual pathways for individuals to participate in proving from home.

If successful, Ethereum would become the first major blockchain to integrate ZKPs into its base layer, reinforcing its position as the preferred infrastructure for both decentralized apps and institutional adoption. Coupled with cheaper data handling via blobs and advances in zk-rollups, Ethereum is positioning itself to remain a leader in blockchain scalability.

Market Update

• Bitcoin (BTC): Bitcoin climbed 1% over the weekend, momentarily crossing $119,000 as trading volumes tripled. BlackRock’s IBIT fund surpassed $80 billion in crypto assets under management, underscoring solid institutional demand despite profit-taking toward session close.
• Ethereum (ETH): ETH broke above $3,000 for the first time since February, gaining 3% thanks to strong institutional inflows and elevated trading activity, signaling firm bullish sentiment.
• Gold: Gold soared to $3,371 amid continued central bank accumulation exceeding 1,000 tonnes annually since 2022. The metal pierced key resistance levels, with sights now set on $3,578 and above.
• Nikkei 225: Asia-Pacific markets slipped early Monday as investors reacted to President Trump’s unexpected announcement of 30% tariffs on EU and Mexican imports effective August 1, sending Japan’s Nikkei 225 index down 0.33%.