Public company, workplace, funding, and market signals
Updated Aug 2, 2026
Iron Fish is a privacy-focused, open-source Layer-1 blockchain and network. It encrypts transactions by default using zero-knowledge proofs, supports multi-asset shielded transfers and bridges to transparent chains. The operating context changed materially: in March 2025 the development team joined Coinbase/Base, while the independent Iron Fish Foundation retained the network; on April 20, 2026 the Foundation moved to maintenance mode.
Primary product
Iron Fish privacy Layer-1 blockchain/network, including its native IRON asset, node software, SDK/CLI, shielded pool, bridge integrations, block explorer and wallet ecosystem.
Founded
2019
Headquarters
San Francisco, California, United States
Team size
Current Foundation estimates indicate approximately 2 people; historical operating-company listings reported 11–50 employees.
Work style
Remote
Industry
Software Development / Blockchain
Sub-industry
Privacy technology, zero-knowledge cryptography, cryptocurrency and Layer-1 infrastructure
Offices
Business model
Leadership
Founder and CEO; continues on the Iron Fish Foundation board
Jason Spafford
Iron Fish team lead / engineering leadership associated with the Coinbase/Base privacy team transition
Brian Avello
Director, Iron Fish Foundation (third-party company-directory listing; current executive status is not independently confirmed)
Investors
Historical recruiting materials describe a small, distributed/async, high-ownership engineering culture emphasizing kindness, curiosity, learning, teaching, engineering excellence, psychological safety and practical problem solving. These signals are historical and may no longer describe the post-2025 Foundation in maintenance mode.
Work style
Remote
Compensation
Historical job postings advertised approximately $70,000–$120,000 for an engineering-manager role and $72,000–$84,000 for a software-engineer role, but some figures were explicitly estimates from job boards rather than company-confirmed compensation. Equity was described as significant in recruiting materials.
Benefits
Pricing
No conventional SaaS price was found. The network is open-source and user access is mediated by blockchain transaction fees, mining/network economics and the IRON token; exact current fee economics were not established.
Differentiators
Technology
Estimated revenue
Approximately $2.7M annual revenue according to a third-party company-data listing; not independently verified and likely reflects the Foundation/entity rather than historical operating-company revenue.
Coinbase announced acquisition of the Iron Fish team, led by Elena Nadolinski and Jason Spafford, to form a privacy-focused Base team. Coinbase explicitly said the transaction did not acquire the Iron Fish network, token or technology.
SourceThe independent Iron Fish Foundation moved to maintenance mode, ended active development and future grants, began closing Discord, and shifted support to email. The Foundation continues basic infrastructure support.
SourceIron Fish Blog · Apr 2026
The Foundation announced maintenance mode, ending active development and future grants while continuing basic network infrastructure and support.
Iron Fish Blog · Oct 2025
Iron Fish announced SuiFish and an expansion of its privacy engine to additional chains, framing it as Iron Fish v2 and a broader move toward chain-level privacy.
Iron Fish Blog · Mar 2025
Iron Fish launched a TestFlight mobile app for private stablecoin transfers and emphasized private USDC flows, sanctions screening, and a Venmo-like user experience.
CoinDesk · Mar 2025
CoinDesk reported that Coinbase acquired Iron Fish's team, not the chain or token, and that Elena Nadolinski would remain on the Foundation board.
43 jobs at Iron Fish
Competitors
Coinbase Blog · Mar 2025
Coinbase announced it acquired the Iron Fish team for Base privacy work, while leaving the Iron Fish network, token and technology independent.