Viral Token Created via Zora Sparks Massive Criticism, Rapid Price Crash

Coinbase is distancing itself from a highly controversial memecoin that was associated with its Layer-2 network Base, after the token briefly surged to a $17.1 million market cap before crashing nearly 90% in just 20 minutes.

On April 16, the official Base X (formerly Twitter) account shared a post titled “Base is for everyone” with a link to a token of the same name hosted on Zora, a platform that turns user-generated content into tradable tokens.

Base is for everyone. pic.twitter.com/gq3lLLuXO1

— Base (@base) April 16, 2025

The token briefly soared in value—reaching a peak just over an hour after launch—but quickly plummeted to a market value of $1.9 million, according to DEX Screener. The token has since recovered slightly to $7.7 million, though damage to Base’s reputation appears more enduring.

Coinbase: “Base Did Not Launch This Token”

A Coinbase spokeswoman responded to the controversy, telling Cointelegraph that Base did not issue, endorse, or profit from the token directly.

“Base did not launch a token,” she said.
“This is not an official Base token. Base posted on Zora, which automatically tokenizes content.”

She pointed to disclaimers on the Zora token page, which note that Base’s Zora posts are the same as its X posts and “no profits or returns should be expected.” Base received 10 million tokens out of 1 billion, pledged not to sell them, and committed any revenue to fund developer grants.

Despite these assurances, Zora records show Base earned over $61,000 in fees as the token’s trading volume surpassed $26 million.

Community Blasts Base for “Botched” Execution

The crypto community swiftly reacted, with hundreds of X posts criticizing Base’s role—even if indirect. One user wrote that “any credibility this chain had is now gone.”

• Pierre Rochard, former Riot Platforms researcher, called it:

  “Terrible for the industry, very short-term transactional extraction.”

• Abhishek Pawa, founder of AP Collective, said:

  “Base tried redefining memecoins as ‘contentcoins’ and completely botched the execution.”

Pawa acknowledged that the core idea has potential, but said Base “fumbled execution, optics, and trader expectations,” leading to “justified backlash.”

Base creator Jesse Pollack, who has minted dozens of tokens via Zora in recent weeks, defended the experiment, stating:

“Someone has to normalize putting all of our content onchain. I’m not afraid for it to be us.”

Pollack argued that tokenizing content is the “end game” for creator economies and will require a rethink of product experiences and financial incentives.

Price Manipulation Claims Add Fuel to the Fire

Further controversy erupted after Harrison Leggio (aka “Pop Punk”), co-founder of startup g8keep, alleged that the token was “HORRIFICALLY sniped.”

Two wallets reportedly bought 21% of the token supply for just 2 ETH (~$3,200), then dumped them for a combined profit of around $300,000, triggering suspicions of early access manipulation or insider advantages.

Just over an hour after the initial token launch, Base shared another Zora post—this time promoting its appearance at FarCon 2025, which also generated a new token. However, that token peaked at just $987,570 before crashing 77%, suggesting the hype had already fizzled.

Final Thoughts: Innovation or Irresponsibility?

Coinbase and Base may not have technically launched the token, but the optics of platform-endorsed tokenization during a volatile market have left many in the crypto community questioning the project’s priorities.

While tokenizing content offers a new paradigm for creator monetization, this experiment’s outcome shows that without clear guardrails and responsible rollout, the risks—both financial and reputational—can be significant.

As one user summarized:

“If you’re going to experiment with Web3 economics, at least don’t do it in a way that nukes your community trust.”