Base Criticised for Supporting Collapsed Token

The Layer 2 network Base has come under fire following the collapse of the token Base is for everyone. Initially launched as an experimental content coin, it saw a sharp rise in price before losing 95% of its value.

Base is for everyone. pic.twitter.com/gq3lLLuXO1

— Base (@base) April 16, 2025

On March 16, Base published the message “Base for everyone” on Zora, a blockchain-based social network that automatically converts posts into tokens. The coin later received support from the network’s official account on X.

The post sparked a wave of interest, and the asset’s market capitalisation reached $17 million. However, the price soon plummeted, leading some users to accuse Base of orchestrating a Pump & Dump scheme.

Abhishek Pawa, head of AP Collective, stated that the price drop was due to major players controlling 47% of the supply.

base just had a major rug pull, here’s what went down ?

what happened

→ official base twitter promoted memecoin “base is for everyone”
→ immediate speculative frenzy, token pumped rapidly from launch to ~$15-20M market cap
→ top 3 holders held 47% of supply, quickly dumped… pic.twitter.com/iROD2tKWvX

— Abhi (@0xAbhiP) April 16, 2025

He added that the support from Base, associated with Coinbase, “significantly undermined” community trust.

Researchers at Lookonchain discovered that three wallets purchased a large amount of Base is for everyone tokens before the project received official endorsement from Base. They later sold the assets for a total profit of approximately $666,000.

3 wallets bought a large amount of “Base is for everyone” before @base posted and sold them, making a profit of ~$666K.

0x0992 spent 1.5 $ETH($2,370) to buy 256.39M “Base is for everyone”, and sold all for 108 $ETH($170.4K), making $168K.https://t.co/1QSP9LDMF8

0x5D9D spent 1… pic.twitter.com/1lrSydphxP

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) April 17, 2025

Representatives from Base stated that the token was automatically issued by the Zora platform, not launched by the company itself.

Base is posting on Zora because we believe everyone should bring their content onchain, and use the tools that make it possible.

Memes. Moments. Culture.

If we want the future to be onchain, we have to be willing to experiment in public. That’s what we’re doing.

To be clear,…

— Base (@base) April 16, 2025

The token’s description emphasised that it was not affiliated with Base or Coinbase, and purchases were only possible for entertainment purposes with a high likelihood of financial loss.

Despite the sharp decline, the token’s market capitalisation has nearly recovered and, at the time of writing, stands at approximately $15.4 million, according to CoinGecko. Base is for everyone is trading at $0.0153 (-5.8% over the past day).

Back in February, Base implemented Flashblocks technology in its testnet, reducing block creation time from two seconds to 200 milliseconds.