Coinbase’s Base Layer 2 Network Accidentally Launches a Token, Market Explodes

Base's official X account dropped the phrase "Base is for everyone" followed by a post that read "just coin it", linking to Zora

Coinbase's Layer 2 network Base unintentionally kicked off one of the most chaotic experiments in recent Web3 memory. It started with a simple post "Base is for everyone".

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

— Base (@base) April 16, 2025

What followed was an experimental token launch, market mania, backlash, and a broader conversation on the future of tokenized content.

The Spark: A Tweet, a Token, and a Frenzy

Base's official X account dropped the phrase "Base is for everyone" followed by a post that read "just coin it", linking to Zora, a platform that allows content to be minted as tokens.

Just coin it. https://t.co/RB6BF9wrjh

— Base (@base) April 16, 2025

That seemingly innocent link led to the creation of an ERC-20 token titled "Base is for everyone". Although Zora posted a disclaimer clarifying it wasn't official, the damage, or rather the excitement, was already in motion.

Within hours, the token exploded to a $17 million market cap, crashed by 94% to nearly $1 million, and then rebounded to over $23 million, all in less than 12 hours.

At the time of writing, it's sitting around $14 million with over $33 million in trading volume, according to the data by DEXScreener.

Who Benefited?

While thousands of wallets jumped into the speculative craze, a few made out with profits.

One wallet, 0x0992, bought 256 million tokens for just 1.5 ETH (~$2,370) and sold them for 108 ETH (~$170,400), pocketing a massive $168,000 profit. The other two, 0x5D9D and 0xBD31 made profits of $266,000 and $231,800, respectively.

Another wallet, 0x5D9D, also raked in profits, while three wallets altogether made around $666,000 on the day, according to Lookonchain.

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

Unsurprisingly, this led to accusations of insider sniping, with Harrison Leggio (aka “Pop Punk”) calling it “HORRIFICALLY sniped”.

Base token on Zora was HORRIFICALLY sniped.

From a quick look, here's 2 wallets that purchased 21% of the supply for 2 ETH.

They then transferred to other wallets and sold for $300k profit.

This is what can happen if you don't have snipe protection… pic.twitter.com/FT4kNWPtoQ

— Pop Punk (@PopPunkOnChain) April 16, 2025

The Controversy

Not long after the token's launch, critics slammed Base for what they saw as a reckless move. Former Vice President of Research of Riot Platforms, Pierre Rochard, called it "terrible for the industry".

On-chain analyst Hantao Yuan revealed that just three wallets controlled nearly 47% of the total supply, with one wallet alone holding 25.6%.

Let me get this straight> base tweets a token on their main account> Top 3 holders had 47% of the supply (sold a lot)> Jesse defends it> Posts 2 more tokens> "This is culture"

Rugs 2500 holders (potentially new base users)

This is a joke, right?

Don’t do this if you’re reading this. It’s terrible for the industry. We need to build things people want to use, not pyramid schemes.

On-chain analyst reveals that three wallets controlled nearly 47% of the total supply, with one wallet alone holding 25.6% of the “Base is for everyone” token.

Volume bots were also used to amplify the