Coinbase's Base Promotes Unofficial Meme Coin—Traders Ape In and Get Rekt
Base, Coinbase's Layer 2 network, launched a token via Zora, an onchain social protocol, which quickly surged to a $13 million valuation before plummeting 92% to $1 million within three hours. The token, created from a post on Base's official X account, was not officially endorsed by Base, as stated in Zora's disclaimer. Despite the crash, the token regained some value, rising 20% to $0.007. Base emphasized the importance of onchain experimentation, while Zora encouraged users to "study Zora." Concerns arose about the distribution, with reports indicating that top holders controlled 47% of the supply. The incident generated nearly $28 million in trading volume and over $60,000 in creator earnings for Base. Jesse Pollak, founder of Base, differentiated "content coins" from meme coins, highlighting their unique value proposition. Jacob Horne's essay suggested that crypto could create open markets that reward content creators while maintaining free access to information.
