Base scrutinized over promotion of token that briefly crashed 95%; says part of 'contentcoin' vision

Base , the Layer-2 network backed by crypto exchange Coinbase, is facing criticism from the crypto community for publicly endorsing a token that briefly lost most of its value shortly after launch. The token has since recovered nearly all of that value.

Earlier on Wednesday, Base posted, "Base is for everyone," on Zora, an onchain social media network that automatically converts posts into tokens.

Then, at approximately 3:12 p.m. ET, the official Base X account promoted the token by uploading an image saying 'Base is for everyone,' followed by a reply post to the token's page on Zora.

The official endorsement from Base appears to have fueled the token's rapid surge to a market capitalization of over $17 million. However, soon after reaching its peak, the "Base is for everyone" token crashed by about 95% in value, wiping out over $15 million, according to data from Dexscreener. 

The initial collapse has triggered backlash from crypto users on X, some of whom labeled the token a rugpull and accused Base and Coinbase of endorsing a memecoin that would exhibit classic pump-and-dump behavior.

Abhishek Pawa, founder and CEO of Web3 advisory firm AP Collective, said on X that the crash was initiated by large holders of the token, with the top three holders controlling 47% of the supply and quickly selling their holdings. Pawa also wrote that the endorsement from Base, linked to publicly traded Coinbase, "significantly damaged" community trust.

Blockchain research channel Lookonchain reported that three wallets bought large amounts of Base is for everyone tokens prior to the official endorsement from Base and later sold, making a combined profit of around $666,000.

However, the market cap of "Base is for everyone" has since recovered to around $17.4 million as of press time.

Base responds

"Base did not launch a token, this is not an official Base token, and Base did not sell this token," a Base spokesperson told The Block in an email, adding that such information is already stipulated in the legal disclaimer.

According to the team's explanation, Base did not launch the token, since it was automatically minted by the Zora platform, on which Base simply made a post.

The "Base is for everyone" token's description on Zora also notes that the token is not affiliated with Base or Coinbase, and that traders of the token should not expect profits or returns.

"There is a significant risk of losing all funds spent on them," the description said . "Purchase only for entertainment and creative purposes."

The Zora description also detailed that Base will receive 10 million tokens out of a total supply of 1 billion "as creators" and that it will never sell the tokens. "All fees generated will go to grants supporting builders on Base," the description said.

Promoting 'contentcoin'

Amid the community backlash, Base and its creator Jesse Pollak continued to push out posts explaining the concept of "contentcoin" without directly addressing the token's crash.

The Base is for everyone token launch earlier on Wednesday appears to be the first part of what Base described as an experiment of tokenizing digital content.

"Base is posting on Zora because we believe everyone should bring their content onchain," Base wrote on X a few hours after the collapse occurred. "If we want the future to be onchain, we have to be willing to experiment in public. That’s what we’re doing." 

Prior to Base is for everyone going live on Zora, Base creator Pollak described contentcoin as a representation of a single piece of content that is "created in a context where the expectation is set that the coin is the content and the content is the coin — no more, no less."

Base has since announced that it "coined" the poster for the FarCon 2025 event on Zora, in the same fashion as the Base is for everyone token.

Despite subsequent posts from Base and Pollak illustrating the concept of contentcoins, the crypto community on X expressed negative sentiment towards the "experiment."

One X user Clark10x wrote in a reply to Base's post-crash explanation post: "You should have posted this before or immediately after under the buy link and this anger would be for the most part, voided."

AP Collective's Pawa also said on X that the execution of the "contentcoin" experiment was disastrous, while acknowledging that the idea of contentcoin has innovative potential.

"No clear upfront communication, traders left confused, expectations completely misaligned," Pawa said. "Jesse’s defensive stance post-collapse came off dismissive, framing retail losses as misunderstanding innovation rather than base's severe miscommunication."

Base declined to provide additional comment regarding the community response.

Update made to add insights provided by Lookonchain