News linked to both this project and an event.
Odaily News: Zora co-founder Dee Goens posted on X that he will take over as CEO, while co-founder Jacob is stepping down and leaving Zora after more than 6 years as CEO. Meanwhile, Zora had already undergone layoffs earlier this year, and the team now numbers fewer than 10 people, with further adoption of AI Agents to handle tasks such as Slack workflows, code writing, and incident response.On the product side, Zora has expanded asset issuance to Robinhood and Solana, and supports cross-chain transactions across Robinhood, Solana, and BNB Chain; it also launched Custom Pairs, allowing users to create new tokens paired with tokenized stocks, meme coins, and mainstream crypto assets, with more than 4,000 trading pairs created since launch.He stated that the next phase will focus on implementing the ZORA token buyback and reward mechanism to further align the platform's business with the interests of ZORA holders, while also restarting community incentive distribution, prioritizing mobile product development, and continuing to expand the user base for social trading and on-chain markets.
Zora's incoming CEO, D. Goens (@dg_goens), announced that Zora has implemented several major adjustments this summer: On the product side, the platform has expanded beyond Base to support Robinhood, Solana, and BNB Chain, launching a custom pair creation feature with over 4,000 trading pairs established to support stocks, meme coins, and mainstream assets. On the team side, the company has completed layoffs, shrinking its workforce to fewer than 10 employees, and has deeply integrated AI technology to improve operational efficiency. In terms of leadership, co-founder Jacob stepped down as CEO, succeeded by fellow co-founder D. Goens. The incoming CEO stated that future priorities will include advancing the $ZORA token buyback and holder reward mechanisms, resuming community incentive distributions, accelerating mobile product iterations, and committing to greater transparency in community communications.
Base founder Jesse Pollak published a review of the past two years of development, acknowledging that his previous bet on on-chain native social was a mistake. He stated that social directions like Farcaster, Zora, Miniapps, and creator coins have failed to become the core drivers of crypto adoption, and as a result, Base has fallen behind some competitors in areas such as perpetual contracts, prediction markets, tokenization, and payments.Pollak stated that going forward, Base will position itself as the "blockchain for global finance," focusing on three key directions in 2026: trading, payments, and AI agents. Specifically, trading will cover tokenized stocks, Meme coins, and application tokens; payments will revolve around global stablecoins for individuals and businesses; and AI agents will leverage cryptocurrency as the native money for computers, serving participants in the future large-scale machine economy.Furthermore, the Base application will be handed back to the Coinbase team, with Cobie taking over to drive it forward, and it may expand beyond the Base ecosystem. Pollak also stated that Base will continue to support developers through Base Layer, Base Batches, the ecosystem fund, and Coinbase distribution resources.