Coinbase rarely gets the benefit of the doubt in Ethereum circles, and the latest accusation that the exchange is quietly selling ether has turned into a larger argument about whether one of the network’s biggest commercial players is also one of its most committed holders. Base creator Jesse Pollak pushed back sharply, treating the claim less as an on-chain observation than as a misread of Coinbase’s economic position.
According to the original report, Pollak said Coinbase is the largest non-DAT holder of ETH “by an order of magnitude,” one of Ethereum’s biggest customers through Base, and a major contributor to EVM and Ethereum development. His response followed an Ethereum Foundation member’s post arguing that much of the community’s anger toward Coinbase is “badly misplaced.” Pollak also warned that “hating your customers” is a good way to make them no longer want to be customers.
A fight about selling becomes a fight about loyalty
The accusation itself is straightforward: some parts of Ethereum’s community have accused Coinbase of selling ETH, presumably at times when large exchange-linked wallets move funds. The response from Pollak pivots away from transaction-level evidence and toward position-level context. Owning more ether than any non-DAT holder by an order of magnitude does not automatically disprove selling, but it does change the stakes.
A company sitting on that much ETH has strong reasons not to undermine the asset’s market. Base alone gives Coinbase a structural incentive to keep Ethereum blockspace valuable, since Base users generate demand for ether as gas. If Ethereum becomes cheaper or less relevant, the Layer 2 business loses part of its economic case. That does not mean Coinbase will never manage its balance sheet, but it makes the “selling ETH” story less simple than it looks.
The Base factor
Pollak’s defense leans heavily on the ecosystem infrastructure Coinbase has built. The list cited in the source includes Base, USDC, cbBTC, EIP-4844, ERC-4337 smart wallets, and x402. That is not a peripheral set of contributions. EIP-4844, for example,
