Coinbase’s second-layer Ethereum blockchain, Base, has been linked to a recently launched token, despite previously advertising itself as not issuing a proprietary token.
The “BASEISFOREVERYONE” memecoin appeared and, following a brief two-hour price increase after its announcement, quickly decreased in value, losing 88% within two minutes.
Market volatility around the token intensified at 4:30 pm, resulting in a further price decrease, possibly due to market manipulation.
In seven minutes, the memecoin’s value declined by 94%.
It later recovered some value, reaching nearly $10.4 million.
Base has kept its token announcement online despite the price decrease and has appeared to try and renew interest after the market event.
Base founder Jesse Pollak continued scheduled appearances without apologies and amplified social media posts that blamed cryptocurrency speculators and suggested the situation offered a learning opportunity.
Coinbase has stated that “Base did not launch a token”
A Coinbase representative told Cointelegraph that the “BASEISFOREVERYONE” token is not an official Base cryptocurrency and that Base did not offer it for sale.
The representative said the token resulted from Base’s activity on the Zora platform, which automatically tokenizes content.
This contradicts Base’s public statements since its start in 2023.
Base and its leaders have said there were no plans to create a network token.
On November 30, 2024, Jesse Pollak said, “There are no plans for a Base network token.” He repeated this on April 9th.
Coinbase affirmed this, stating, “Please note that we do not currently plan to issue a new network token,” and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong agreed, “We’re not planning to make any token for Base.”
These statements contrast with the token launch, which led to user complaints.
Despite Coinbase’s distinction from the token, Base’s main official social media channels announced and promoted the memecoin.
Coinbase argues this memecoin is not a “network token” used for fees or governance, differing from past communications.
Also Read: Infected Game Migrates to Solana Citing Base Network Issues
