- Base’s meme coin surged to a $17M market cap before crashing over 95% within hours.
- On-chain data revealed 3 wallets dumped early and profited $666K before the official promo.
- Top holders still control 47% of the supply, raising centralization and fairness concerns.
A new meme coin launched on Coinbase’s Base network has crashed more than 95% after briefly soaring to a $17 million market cap. The token, titled “Base is for everyone,” was minted from a promotional tweet posted by Base through Zora, an on-chain content platform. The post appeared to celebrate open experimentation in crypto culture, but its rapid price movement has triggered widespread backlash.
The Base team claimed the token was not official and that they would not sell their creator share of 10 million tokens. They described the entire event as a public experiment to explore tokenizing content. However, the price collapse and sudden exits by early buyers raised concerns across the community.
On-chain analysis from Lookonchain revealed that three wallets bought large amounts of the token before Base made the post. These wallets were sold shortly afterward and collectively profited around $666,000. Wallet 0x0992 made $168,000, wallet 0x5D9D made $266,000, and wallet 0xBD31 earned about $232,000. All spent only 1 to 1.5 ETH each to acquire their positions.
The quick buys and sells suggested possible insider knowledge or front-running behavior. Critics pointed out that the top three wallets still hold nearly 47% of the total supply. However, one wallet alone holds more than 25%, raising serious questions about decentralization and fairness.
Related: SEC Rules Meme Coins Are Not Securities Under Federal Law
The price crash impacted thousands of wallets. According to on-chain analyst Hantao Yuan, more than 2,500 wallets were affected by the dramatic price swings. He also noted that volume bots may have contributed to the token’s fast rise and fall.
Despite Base’s statement that the project was not an official token or product, many users were confused by the execution. Some accused the platform of sending mixed signals by posting and linking to the coin, while distancing itself from the trading frenzy.
As of press time, the token trades at a fraction of its all-time high. Its market cap has dropped to around $623,000. While the Base team has emphasized its commitment to not selling, many in the crypto community remain skeptical. The incident has sparked renewed calls for transparency and accountability in Web3 experiments, especially when user funds are involved.
