Coinbase’s BASE Token Crashes 90% After Controversial Launch, Critics React

What started as a fun experiment by Base, the blockchain network backed by Coinbase, quickly turned into a major controversy. The team launched and promoted a meme coin called Base is for Everyone, hoping to explore new ways to bring internet culture on-chain. But things didn’t go as planned.

The token’s value soared, then crashed within minutes, leaving traders confused, the community angry, and many wondering what just happened. Here’s what went down.

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%. At one point, it fell even further to around $623,000. 

To make things worse, data from Lookonchain showed that the top three wallets held nearly half of the total supply. This raised suspicions that some users may have had early information about the launch. Many in the community began to question whether the release was fair and transparent.

Base Explains

After the backlash, Base released a statement explaining that the launch was simply a public experiment. They said the goal was to bring content like memes and cultural moments onto the blockchain so they can live online permanently. This idea is called putting content on-chain.

Base said they used Zora to explore how this concept could work and encouraged others to do the same. They also made it clear that these tokens are not official, are not linked to Coinbase, and will never be sold by the team. According to them, the tokens were part of a creative test, not a real investment product.

Community Reactions: Good Idea, Poor Execution

Despite Base’s explanation, many in the crypto space were not convinced. Some critics said the launch hurt the network’s reputation. One analyst called the move opportunistic. Another said Base tried to turn meme coins into content coins, but the way it was done felt rushed and careless.

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While the idea of putting content on-chain has potential, many felt the execution was poorly planned and unfair to traders who got caught in the token’s price crash.

Adding to the controversy, two addresses were found to have bought 21% of the token supply early and sold it for a profit of about $300,000 dollars. This made the situation worse, as it added to fears of insider advantages.

A second token launched by Base shortly afterward also failed, losing value soon after its release.

This incident raised serious questions about how crypto projects experiment in public. While trying new ideas is part of building in Web3, the Base is for Everyone case shows how things can go wrong and how important trust and clear communication are when launching something new in the crypto world.