Coinbase Community Falls Into Meme Coin Trap — “Base for Everyone” Token Evaporates 92% in Hours
An unofficial token issuance from Base — Coinbase’s Layer-2 network — has inadvertently sparked a short-lived speculative frenzy, causing many retail traders to “rekt” after the token’s price collapsed almost completely.
On the afternoon of February 13, the official account of the Base network posted a post on the onchain social platform Zora, announcing that they had “minted” a digital collectible. Zora quickly turned the post into a tradable ERC-20 token called “Base for Everyone,” sparking interest and speculation from the crypto community.
Although Zora’s page clearly labeled it as not an official Base token, many investors still rushed to buy it, with the total market capitalization peaking at $13 million within hours. However, the token’s value plummeted shortly thereafter, losing 92% and ending the day with a market cap of just under $1 million.
Although the token recovered slightly the next morning — up more than 20% and trading around $0.007 — the damage was done, with many users on social media blaming Coinbase for “vagueness.”
Coinbase Responds: “Public Testing”
That same evening, the Base account posted an explanation on the X platform:
“Base is posting on Zora because we believe content should be onchain, and tools like Zora make that possible. If we want an onchain future, we need to be willing to publicly test. And that’s what we’re doing.”
Zora also responded more subtly, emphasizing the “research” nature of the platform, and suggesting that the misunderstanding of the token is the responsibility of users unfamiliar with its automated mechanisms.
Data Analysis: Whales and Bots Take Over
Hantao Yuan, co-founder of the Sky Mavis and a16z-backed Moku platform, pointed out that the three largest wallets hold 47% of the token supply, with the largest wallet controlling more than 25.6%. He also suspected the involvement of volume trading bots to manipulate the price chart.
According to data from DEXScreener, the token generated nearly $28 million in trading volume and brought in more than $60,000 in revenue for the creator — in this case, Base, as the platform automatically receives 1% of the token supply for creating a post on Zora. However, Base asserted that it will not sell any tokens.
“Content Coins” Not Meme Coins?
Jesse Pollak, founder of Base, has made a distinction between “content coins” and “meme coins,” arguing that the new tokens represent a piece of content that has its own value and does not create speculative expectations, unlike traditional meme coins, which are often inflated and prone to collapse.
Pollak cites an essay by Jacob Horne, co-founder of Zora, who argues that “content coins” could be a new model for maintaining an internet that is both free and value-generating. Instead of locking content behind paywalls or requiring subscriptions, coins could be a tool to incentivize the free creation and distribution of information, while sharing economic value with all participants.
“Coins open up an internet that is both free and valuable — where information can be shared freely, while the value from that is redistributed to creators, distributors, and consumers,” Horne writes.
Conclusion
While the “Base for Everyone” event may have seemed like an academic experiment in onchain content, the real-world consequences have left many traders with real money to lose. The incident raises the question: Is onchain technology truly ready for the masses, or do we need more guardrails to protect the community from confusing experimentation with real investment?