Excited about the launch of “Base is for everyone”? It was meant to be this really funny, joke-y, self-aware meme coin, a big middle finger to the seriousness of crypto. I saw it, chuckled, and thought, "Okay, this is Web3 absurdity at its finest." Then, BAM! $17 million market cap in an hour. But before you know it, into the ground it goes 90% quicker than you can utter the phrase “rug pull.” Ouch.
Coinbase would like us all to pretend that Base is a neutral platform, a blank canvas for the Web3 creators and innovators to thrive. Fine. So when the official Base account tweets that “Base is for everyone,” it carries a lot of weight. You literally cannot look the other way when a memecoin version of the same name suddenly moons and then plunges.
Base Tweeted, People Lost Money?
Let's be real. Coinbase, for all its regulatory hubris and talk of institutional on-boarding, is playing both sides. They want to be the grown up in the room. At the same time, they really like to party with the cool kids who have the meme coin parties. The issue is, those two worlds are deeply at odds with each other.
Second, it’s about as surprising as your grandpa announcing he’s going to release a fire mixtape. Awesome in principle, but the implementation tends to be… terrible.
Should Coinbase have foreseen this? Absolutely. They designed the network and understand the power of their brand. Enough to have anticipated that a single tweet would set off a Twitter feeding frenzy.
Yet Jesse Pollak’s defense of tokenized content as “democratization of ownership” sounds good in practice. Let's call it what it is in practice: often a thinly veiled excuse for rampant speculation. Treating everyone like a potential scammer isn’t a great outcome for anybody.
Democratization or Reckless Endorsement?
We’re not just debating academic points—we’re discussing real people losing real dollars here. Maybe it's money they could afford to lose, maybe it isn't. The reality is, the deck is stacked. A small handful of whales had unrestricted early access and insider knowledge, and they all made a killing. In the end, it’s the average Joe that is left holding the bag.
This is not a matter of democratization. It is a bit more like digital Wild West, and Coinbase is making the money by selling the shovels and pick axes.
Coinbase’s argument seems to be that they aren’t responsible for what Base users do. That’s just not the case.
Coinbase: Enabler or Caretaker?
The only question as far as Coinbase’s responsibility goes is when in the process does it start and stop. Of course, they built the infrastructure but promoted it and collected fees from the subsequent transactions. Can they actually pretend to be the innocent bystanders when it all goes wrong?
Think of as a landlord renting out apartments in a crumbling building with major safety hazards. They would love to continue collecting rent, but when the building suddenly collapses, they jump up and down screaming that they had no clue there was an issue. Would you buy that?
The 1% token allocation the Base’s core wallet? Come on. Redirecting trading fees to the developer community isn’t a bad idea, but it is merely a consolation prize for the destructive precedent set. It would be like coming with a band-aid after you already cut off someone’s arm.
Coinbase just has to choose their identity and live with the consequences. Or do they want to be the Goldman Sachs of crypto, focused on institutional investors and following the rules? Or do they plan to be the Burning Man of Web3, like a crazy libertarian dystopia where anything is allowed?
They can't have it both ways. And until they decide to take responsibility, moments like these will keep occurring, breeding even more corrosive damage to the public’s trust in the whole ecosystem.
Maybe that's the real innovation we need: a Web3 platform that prioritizes user safety over hype and speculation. A digital infrastructure that goes beyond creating a new financial system to creating a better one. Because right now, "Base is for everyone" feels more like "Base is for a few, at the expense of everyone else."
Maybe that's the real innovation we need: a Web3 platform that prioritizes user safety over hype and speculation. A platform that doesn't just build a new financial system, but a better one. Because right now, "Base is for everyone" feels more like "Base is for a few, at the expense of everyone else."
