Coinbase's Base App: Will It Finally Bring Web3 to the Masses?

The promise of Web3 has always been tantalizing: a decentralized, user-owned internet. To put it very bluntly, drivers are killing pedestrians with impunity. Traversing today’s Web3 world is like building IKEA furniture without the pictorial instruction guide. It is painful, gut-wrenching, and head-banging! We’re not talking about private keys and variable gas fees here. God-awful user experience that is obviously intended to flummox anyone not under the age of 30.

Enter Coinbase's Base app. Is it the cure-all savior we’ve all been dreaming of? Maybe. Maybe not. It isn’t perfect, far from it, but it’s surely a step in the right direction.

Simplicity: The Key Web3 Advantage?

The largest obstacle to Web3 adoption isn’t even the technology, it’s the overwhelming complexity. My mom can order groceries online, but I highly doubt she'd be able to wrap her head around Metamask and gas estimations. Base is looking to change this and it’s long overdue.

The “Sign in with Base” feature is a real potential game-changer. Think about it: one universal identity that you can use across different decentralized apps. Goodbye to the days of swapping between wallets and seed phrases. It’s kind of like the single sign-on we’ve grown accustomed to with Google or Facebook – without all the icky data scraping. Imagine the relief!

And then there’s “MagicSpend,” which allows you to pay gas fees using your Coinbase balance. It seems like a minor detail, but it takes away a big pain point for first time users. Gone are the days of needing to comprehend the nuances of ETH and gas fees just to conduct a basic transaction. It’s all about taking away the friction, making Web3 seem as simple and integrated as what people are used to with a normal app.

Shopify Integration: Smart Or Just Convenient?

This is where things get interesting. The integration with Shopify through Base Pay is pure genius and innovation. Why? Here’s why, because it brings Web3 to the real world right now.

Consider the woman-owned small business on Main Street trying to compete with Amazon. Getting payments directly in USDC on Shopify, with a potential 1% cashback for consumers, would be an enormous boon. And it cuts out the traditional payment intermediaries with their high transaction costs and long settlement periods. It doesn’t end there — blockchain technology has the potential to create entirely new forms of micro-payments and community-driven commerce.

So I’m not going to lie, I’m juiced up about the opportunity here. But let's not get carried away. This integration is very much in its nascent stages. It will be interesting to see just how quickly people take it up. That 1% cashback isn’t going to change the world – or retail for that matter.

The new Shopify integration has a really exciting progressive angle. Giving small businesses and entrepreneurs access to a low-fee, globally accessible payment system can level the playing field and empower them to compete with larger corporations. It's about democratizing access to economic opportunities, and that's something I can get behind.

Is it Really Decentralization Though?

Is the Base app truly decentralized? And it’s entirely on Coinbase’s Basechain, an Ethereum layer-2 network. That’s a move in the right direction, but it’s still completely in the hands of Coinbase at the end of the day.

This leads to troubling questions regarding censorship resistance and long-term sustainability. What do you do if Coinbase throws in the towel with Basechain? What happens if they start censoring transactions?

First, these are all legitimate concerns and they should not be pooh-poohed. All that being said, I think the promise of making these things more accessible and user-friendly is worth the risk at least for now. The expectation is that with the passage of time, and as Basechain progresses towards increasing decentralization, these risks will go away.

The recent effort to add Farcaster support for decentralized social feeds is a great beacon of hope, but it’s very much still the early days. Of course, the ultimate test of Base is whether the development it attracts will help create a diverse, decentralized ecosystem.

The Base app is not a perfect solution, but it's a significant step forward in making Web3 more accessible to the masses. The “Sign in with Base” identity layer holds tremendous promise for onboarding new users. With Shopify integration, it can be a powerful tool to drastically reduce the barriers to entry.

Let’s not lose our edge, and the skeptical eye that will be needed to keep Coinbase honest about its decentralization aspirations. We have to be careful that Base doesn’t just turn into another shiny new centralized platform pretending to be Web3.

Here's my call to action: Download the Base app. Explore the world of Web3. Do it with your eyes open. Ask questions. Demand transparency. When you do notice something out of place or that just doesn’t make sense, raise your voice.

One thing is for sure, the future of Web3 is in our hands. Let’s work together to ensure that future is indeed a future that’s decentralized, inclusive, and empowering.

The future of Web3 is in our hands. Let's make sure it's a future that's truly decentralized, inclusive, and empowering for everyone.