Crypto exchange giant Coinbase Global is gearing up to bring private transactions to its Ethereum-layer-2 network, Base, following an announcement by CEO Brian Armstrong earlier today. He confirmed the firm’s acquisition of privacy-focused team from Iron Fish in March 2025 was a key step in this strategy and said more details will be shared soon.
Armstrong explained that the Iron Fish team has joined a dedicated “privacy pod” within Base, working on what Coinbase describes as “privacy-preserving primitives” for on-chain activity. Iron Fish’s existing blockchain and token will remain independent, but their engineers are now embedded in Base’s roadmap.
Base is building private transactions.
We acquired the Iron Fish team back in Mar 2025 to start working on this. More to share soon. https://t.co/ZzRHZRH9yN
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) October 21, 2025
Why Privacy on Base Matters
The impending upgrade comes at a time when blockchain networks are under increasing scrutiny for privacy and compliance. According to a recent review, Base’s forthcoming private transaction layer will use zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to mask senders, recipients and amounts, while allowing authorities read-only access in exceptional circumstances.
In markets where privacy coins (such as ZEC, XMR) recently surged despite regulatory setbacks, offering compliant privacy tools on a large layer-2 network could give Base a competitive edge.
Looking Ahead
Coinbase’s move signals a broader institutional ambition: to build a blockchain where privacy, scalability and regulatory-friendliness coexist. Analysts observe that privacy features could attract new institutional flows, particularly if they come with audit capability and built-in compliance.
While the exact launch timeline remains under wraps, subscribers to Coinbase’s blog and social channels are expected to see a full technical breakdown and testnet release “in the near future.” The key questions: Will Base’s privacy tools deliver meaningful protection without compromising transparency? And can Coinbase navigate the regulatory minefield surrounding on-chain privacy? If successful, Base could set a new standard for mainstream crypto adoption.