Base acquires team at PoW blockchain Iron Fish to develop 'privacy-preserving primitives'

Coinbase-backed Layer 2 project Base said it acquired the development team at Iron Fish blockchain to accelerate efforts around privacy.

Iron Fish is a privacy-focused proof-of-work crypto project that ensures private transactions by using zero-knowledge proofs (specifically zk-SNARKs).

Base said it’s bringing the Iron Fish team to develop "privacy-preserving primitives" for Base.

It clarified that the move involves integrating the Iron Fish team’s expertise rather than acquiring the Iron Fish blockchain or its native token.

This means the acquisition will focus solely on the team’s expertise, leaving the Iron Fish project independent and unaffiliated with Coinbase or Base.

Iron Fish confirmed on X that it’s "joining Base to scale privacy" for users. Its founder, Elena Nadolinski, will continue to serve on the foundation's board, indicating that Iron Fish will maintain its governance structure despite the development team joining Base.

Iron Fish released its mainnet in 2023 after being in development for over two years, but it later struggled to gain adequate traction. In 2021, it raised $28 million in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz to support developing and expanding its privacy-centric blockchain.

Following the announcement, the price of Iron Fish's native token (IRON) surged by nearly 30%.