Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is taking steps to brand the platform as an “everyday exchange”. This week, Armstrong announced that the founders of the Sensible app have joined Coinbase as the exchange looks to revamp its onchain consumer roadmap.
Jacob Frantz and Zachary Salmon — the co-founders of Sensible started the crypto platform in 2022. While Frantz was previously with Meta, Salmon served as the director of engineering at Walmart before they collaborated on Sensible. The platform essentially let users deposit crypto and start earning an annual yield of up to eight percent. The platform was backed by Coinbase Ventures itself, alongside investment firm Dragonfly.
Announcing the development Armstrong said, “The everything exchange is getting closer. Thrilled to have the founders to accelerate our onchain consumer roadmap.”
Coinbase, since being launched in 2012, has established itself among the largest crypto exchanges internationally. It claims to hold $425 billion in assets under its management from users spread across over 100 nations. The exchange offers services including buying, selling, storing, and trading of crypto assets.
Going forward, however, Armstrong sees Coinbase as a “gateway to the onchain economy”.
Elaborating on the plans, a blog post by Coinbase said, “crypto-backed loans platform. By leveraging non-custodial smart wallets, users can get access to liquidity without intermediaries. Or consider staking, where users can participate in securing blockchain networks while earning rewards. These are just a few of the ways we’re helping users unlock the full potential of their assets.”
Both, Frantz and Zachary will now work alongside the core Coinbase team to build DeFi-powered consumer applications.
“Sensible will shut down in October,” the founders announced.