Source: The Block

Base faced criticism from the crypto community for its token 'Base is for everyone' plummeting 95% in a short time. The token's launch was part of the 'contentcoin' experiment, and the risks were clearly stated in the legal declaration. Today, the token has nearly regained all of its lost value.

As a Layer-2 network supported by the crypto exchange Coinbase, Base faced community backlash after the token temporarily lost most of its value. The token has now nearly recovered to its previous levels.

Earlier on Wednesday, Base posted about 'Base is for everyone' on Zora, a blockchain social media network that automatically converts posts into tokens. Subsequently, Base's official X account promoted the token around 3:12 PM, posting with an image of 'Base is for everyone.'

This official endorsement seems to have driven the rapid rise of the token, which at one point had a market cap exceeding $17 million. However, after reaching its peak, the token's value quickly dropped by about 95%, losing over $15 million.

This crash sparked strong reactions from crypto users on X, with some calling the token a 'scam token' and accusing Base and Coinbase of supporting a meme token that exhibited classic pump-and-dump behavior.

Abhishek Pawa, founder and CEO of AP Collective, stated on X that the crash was triggered by large holders, with the top three holders controlling 47% of the supply and quickly selling off. Additionally, Pawa pointed out that Base, being an affiliate of the publicly listed Coinbase, significantly damaged community trust with its endorsement.

Blockchain research channel Lookonchain reported that three wallets purchased a large amount of 'Base is for everyone' tokens before the official endorsement from Base and subsequently sold them for a profit of approximately $666,000.

However, as of now, the token's market cap has recovered to about $17.4 million.

Base's response

A spokesperson for Base said in an email to (The Block): 'Base did not launch a token, this is not an official Base token, and Base has not sold the token.' He added that this information has been clarified in a legal statement.

According to the team's explanation, Base did not launch the token as it was automatically minted by the Zora platform, with Base only posting about it.

On Zora, the description of the 'Base is for everyone' token also noted that the token is not related to Base or Coinbase, and traders should not expect any profits or returns. 'Investing in these tokens carries a significant risk of losing all funds,' the description stated, 'Purchases are limited to entertainment and creative purposes.'

The description on Zora also detailed that Base would receive 100,000 tokens as a creator, with a total supply of 1 billion, and that these tokens would never be sold. 'All generated fees will be used to support grants for builders on Base,' the description noted.

Promoting 'contentcoin'

In a community rebound, Base and its founder Jesse Pollak continued to post explanations of the 'contentcoin' concept without directly addressing the token crash issue.

Earlier on Wednesday, Base stated that the launch of the 'Base is for everyone' token is the first part of its digital content tokenization experiment. 'Base is launching on Zora because we believe everyone should put their content on-chain,' Base wrote on X hours after the crash occurred. 'If we want to be on-chain in the future, we must be willing to experiment publicly. That is what we are doing.'

Before 'Base is for everyone' was launched on Zora, Pollak described contentcoin as a representation of content, stating, 'In this context, the expectation is that the token is content, and content is the token—no more, no less.'

Although Base and Pollak's subsequent posts elaborated on the concept of contentcoin, the crypto community expressed negative sentiments about this 'experiment' on X. One user, Clark10x, wrote in response to Base's post explaining the crash: 'You should immediately post this information below the purchase link to alleviate most of the anger.'

Pawa also mentioned on X that the execution of the 'contentcoin' experiment was disastrous, while acknowledging that the concept of contentcoin has innovative potential. 'Without clear prior communication, traders felt confused, and expectations were completely inconsistent,' Pawa said. 'Jesse's defensive posture after the crash seemed somewhat dismissive, framing retail losses as a misunderstanding of innovation rather than a failure of Base.'