Coinbase-incubated Layer 2 network Base has announced acquiring the development team behind Iron Fish, a privacy-focused blockchain project. The latest move aims to boost privacy features within Base.

The acquisition focuses on integrating the expertise of Iron Fish’s team and does not involve the Iron Fish blockchain or its native token, both of which will continue to operate independently under the Iron Fish Foundation.

Privacy-Focused Expansion

Key members of the Iron Fish team, including CEO Elena Nadolinski and Jason Spafford, will join Coinbase’s efforts to develop “privacy-preserving primitives” for Base. Their expertise is expected to address the challenges of transaction transparency inherent in blockchain networks, as per the official announcement.

Meanwhile, Nadolinski will continue her role on the Iron Fish Foundation’s board in a bid to ensure that the project’s governance structure remains intact.

Iron Fish, which is known for leveraging zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) to ensure transaction confidentiality, launched its mainnet in 2023 after over two years of development. It had secured $28 million in a 2021 funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

By integrating Iron Fish’s team, Coinbase aims to equip developers with tools to build more secure and compliant decentralized applications on Base. This initiative is in line with Coinbase’s goal of advancing privacy features within its ecosystem.

Iron Fish revealed that connectivity has witnessed significant growth which is currently bridged to 27 transparent chains with the help of ChainPort. To deter bad actors, Iron Fish has implemented sanction screening on every transaction. It has also enabled private wrapped USDC from Base and is preparing to release a mobile app to provide users with a private, Venmo-like experience in cryptocurrency transactions.

“We believe Base is uniquely positioned to onboard the world to crypto, and we are incredibly excited to build out a privacy solution that can achieve real mass adoption, making private transactions the standard rather than the exception.”

Base Struggles Amid Market Uncertainty

The latest acquisition comes as Base faces difficulties amid high volatility in the broader market despite an impressive market entry over a year ago.

The network previously reached a high of $4 billion in TVL in December 2024 but has since dropped to $2.8 billion, as it continued to struggle to maintain its earlier momentum.

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