Base, the blockchain network backed by Coinbase, faced backlash after promoting a meme coin called Base is for everyone. What started as a fun idea to experiment with on-chain content quickly turned into a nightmare. The coin’s value shot up fast, then crashed just as quickly, leaving many in the crypto space confused and frustrated. After the backlash, Base stepped in to explain what happened and why they launched the token in the first place.
From Hero to Zero in Minutes
On April 16, Base shared a promotional image with the phrase Base is for everyone on X, along with a link to a token of the same name. This token was launched on Zora, a platform where people can turn content into tokens. Just over an hour after launch, the token’s market value reached $17.1 million. But within the next 20 minutes, the value dropped by nearly 90 percent. At one point, it fell even further to around $623,000.
To make matters worse, Lookonchain data showed that the top three wallets were holding nearly half of the total supply, which raised a lot of suspicion. This activity raised serious concerns in the community, as it suggested that some users may have had inside news of the launch, leading to questions about fairness and transparency.
Why Did Base Do This
After facing backlash, Base explained that this was simply a public experiment. They said they want to move content like memes and cultural moments onto the blockchain so it can live permanently online. This idea is known as putting content on-chain. They used Zora to test how this could work and encouraged others to try the same. According to Base, these kinds of tokens are not official, and they will never sell them. The tokens were just part of a creative test and not tied to Coinbase or any real investment product.
Despite the explanation, many people in the crypto space were not happy. Some called it damaging to the network’s reputation. One expert said the whole thing was criticized as opportunistic by some analysts. Another said that Base tried to turn meme coins into content coins but was poorly executed, according to critics. Even though the core idea of putting content on-chain has potential, critics felt the way it was done was poorly planned and unfair to traders.
To make things worse, two addresses were found to have bought 21 percent of the token supply early and sold it for a profit of around $300,000. A second token launched by Base also failed, dropping in value shortly after release.
Overall, this incident raised serious questions about how crypto projects experiment in public and the impact it can have on their reputation.
