Here Are All the Reasons Why Coinbase’s 2026 Vision Isn’t Winning Fans
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong unveiled the firm’s bold 2026 roadmap, promising a world “the whole lot alternate”.
While the imaginative and prescient is daring, customers and builders alike are signaling frustration, citing a widening hole between Coinbase’s said priorities and their on-the-ground experiences.
Brian Armstrong Takes Fire as Coinbase’s 2026 Roadmap Faces User Backlash
According to the Coinbase government, the Everything app would span crypto, equities, commodities, and prediction markets. It would additionally characteristic scaled stablecoins and funds, in addition to expanded developer onboarding via the Base chain and the Base App.
“We’re making main investments in product high quality and automation underlying every of those as effectively. Goal is to make Coinbase the #1 monetary app in the world,” wrote Armstrong.
Critics have lengthy highlighted security lapses. In 2025, Coinbase skilled a data breach allegedly involving insider participation.
“Brian nonetheless doesn’t see consumer security to be a precedence for Coinbase. It might’ve been prevented. A yr later, as an alternative of fixing that shit, management says ‘carry extra lambs to my slaughterhouse, pls,’” wrote Tay, a well-liked consumer on X (Twitter).
Despite Armstrong’s 2026 give attention to world growth and automation, many customers really feel safety and buyer assist stay afterthoughts.
The backlash towards the Base App has compounded frustrations. The rebranded self-custody pockets, designed as a hybrid of buying and selling, social feeds, and messaging atop Coinbase’s Layer-2 Base chain, has been criticized for prioritizing creator and content material cash over significant DeFi or gaming tasks.
“Everything on Base is trash… Your flagship is a rip-off token generator,” stated one other consumer, reflecting a widespread sentiment amongst builders who really feel missed except they align with Base management or are ex-Coinbase staff.
Many builders report feeling unsupported and gaslit by Base administration. In a prolonged publish, developer Coco argued that Coinbase is successfully competing with its personal builders, favoring insiders over long-standing tasks.
“Stop supporting absolute scammers… Support legit builders, not SouljaBoy or Sahil,” Coco wrote, emphasizing the threat of prime expertise fleeing the ecosystem if the chain continues to prioritize inner politics over benefit.
BeInCrypto not too long ago reported on the controversy surrounding Soulja Boy, the place backlash erupted after Base creator Jesse Pollak endorsed a meme coin related to the American rapper and report producer.
Retail Wants a Financial Super App—Not Social Experiments
Users are additionally questioning Coinbase’s give attention to social versus monetary utility. While Armstrong emphasizes onboarding via the Base App, retail merchants argue that the firm is neglecting the subsequent era of finance customers.
“Retail desires to guess, financial institution, save, earn, commerce, withdraw money, pay hire, and the whole lot else at the similar time… Coinbase doesn’t perceive this,” explained consumer Evfiend, highlighting the aggressive risk posed by platforms like Robinhood, which provide built-in monetary companies with out forcing customers to navigate fragmented apps.
Regulatory selections have added to confusion. Coinbase plans to show off on/off ramps in Argentina, a region with high stablecoin adoption. This prompts questions on whether or not such strikes are regulatory, political, or inner.
Finally, analysts and customers additionally cite a disconnect between roadmap and execution, with execution having traditionally fallen brief. This pertains to uneven token listings and opaque decision-making on the Base chain.
Longstanding Base builders echo this, describing an “uneven, unfair playground” the place benefit is usually secondary to inner alignment. Many customers understand Armstrong’s playbook as repetitive and disconnected from neighborhood wants.
“They’ve run this similar playbook for a very long time now… The shit they are saying doesn’t match up with the shit they do,” tweeted Rbthreek, highlighting the rising credibility hole with each retail customers and builders.
Despite these criticisms, some see potential in Coinbase’s 2026 imaginative and prescient. Users acknowledge the Base chain’s promise for on-chain funds and retail adoption, and the Base App might ultimately streamline social buying and selling if execution aligns with neighborhood wants.
Yet, with out addressing safety, developer belief, and the disconnect between ambition and supply, Coinbase dangers alienating the very customers its roadmap goals to onboard.
As Armstrong pushes for a world “the whole lot alternate,” critics argue that Coinbase should first show it will probably safe, assist, and empower its current base earlier than betting on the way forward for on-chain social finance.
Until then, 2026 could also be a yr of promise, but additionally of mounting skepticism.
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