Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak calls for ‘better OnlyFans on Base,’ apologizes for post about ‘pimping’

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Ah, “Base is for everyone.” If you haven’t heard that by now, go catch up quickly with this story.

Here’s a hot take: Base is not sexy. 

Jesse Pollak, Coinbase’s head of Base and Coinbase Wallet, has been on a posting spree since Base launched some “content coins” that pumped, dumped, and then pumped again. The first one was “Base is for everyone,” a token with seemingly no purpose other than to promote the idea that everyone should tokenize everything for profit but also, for funzies. 

One Pollak post with a GIF full of different phrases declared, among other things, that “Base is for pimping” while another made the claim that “Base is for squirting.” Those two in particular caused a stir on Crypto Twitter.

Both have shock value — and are also just a bit bizarre to state at all. In response to one post about the latter statement, Pollak said we should respect “provocative artists.” In another reply, he said he would love it if someone launched a “better OnlyFans on Base.”

But the company behind Base, Coinbase, isn’t for everyone.

As some have pointed out, Pollak’s wish for a Base-based OnlyFans is ironic considering Coinbase’s current terms block anyone from using Coinbase who conducts business around “any sexually-related services such as prostitution, escorts, pay-per view, [or] adult live chat features.” 

Because OnlyFans involves pay-per-view and chat features, OnlyFans and creators making similar content independently or on other platforms would be banned from using Coinbase.

Coinbase has banned all types of sexually suggestive work and sex work without distinction, lumping in lewd OnlyFans photos with activities that are illegal in most states.

When I posted about this, a number of reply guys didn’t deny that Coinbase is doing this. But they tried the good ol’ “it’s a blockchain” argument, meaning sex workers could or should find other ways to use Base while avoiding Coinbase, the company that created it.

But is that a world we really want to live in? One where sex workers are promoted publicly and superficially when they use blockchains and are then shamed or restricted when they try to onramp or offramp their cash? 

The head of Base, who works at Coinbase on Base, is saying sex workers should come to Base while ignoring Coinbase’s rules against letting said workers use Coinbase itself.

In 2022, CNBC found that Coinbase has been banning sex workers from its platform since at least as early as 2016. Coinbase told the news outlet in 2022 that its terms of service bar “commerce or retail services connected to adult content.” 

All of this ties into a bigger problem: As crypto has bowed down to Wall Street in hopes of “mass adoption” and better (or at least clearer) regulation, it’s become more like those big banks it once sneered at. 

Crypto had been touted as one of the few promised payment methods besides cash that sex workers could actually use. But it has failed to live up to that promise.

“Generally speaking, women are not outraged about Base possibly bringing adult content onchain. Adult service workers are more punk and anti-establishment than most of the people in crypto,” CoinFund Head of Comms and Marketing Jules Mossler wrote on X. 

“Being taken seriously is about having good taste. There is a school of thought that believes some art is cheap: gross-out humor, useless nudity, excessive cursing for shock value. It’s not really anyone’s place except the company itself to judge if using sex in their marketing is on target and a good decision,” Mossler continued in reference to Pollak’s GIF post, adding: “The use of the word ‘pimp’ is a choice though. And no matter how often the term appears in rap it doesn’t change that pimps play a central role in sex trafficking and exploitation of women.”

Pollak later posted an apology for the “Base is for pimping” part of his previous post.

“This morning I also posted a piece of art someone coined, which (among many phrases) said ‘base is for pimping.’ To be 100% clear: this was made by a creator I wanted to support (not me or Base marketing), and it was a single phrase among many, but I’ll own this was [sic] a mistake and apologize. I’m sorry,” Pollak wrote in lowercase text, adding: “I unequivocally back artists to create without fear on Base and I support provocative art — but the messages I share matter, especially when they look and feel like a direct message from me.”

Reached for comment, a Coinbase spokesperson did not respond to my question about why the company continues to bar creators engaged in legal sex work from Coinbase. 

Instead, the spokesperson reiterated that Base is permissionless and recommended “anyone” use Coinbase Wallet or a DeFi platform to “get onchain with Base.”

“If someone wanted to build a version of OnlyFans on Base, they would be free to do so,” the Coinbase spokesperson said. 

But they can’t take those earnings to Coinbase itself.

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