Solana-based meme coin launchpad Pump.Fun’s co-founder has pushed back against Coinbase’s Layer 2 network Base’s controversial auto-minted token experiment, making it clear his platform has no plans to follow suit.
“There’s a reality where what Base did is normal in a few years’ time—but it DEFINITELY isn’t today and that has resulted in hurt,” co-founder Alon Cohen tweeted Thursday.
The post was a direct response to the “Base is for everyone” token, which was minted automatically through onchain social platform Zora from a post made by Base’s official X account.
Within minutes, a token tied to the post began trading, soaring to a $17 million market cap before crashing over 90%, triggering accusations of a stealth meme coin launch as on-chain analysis revealed the top three wallets held nearly half the supply.
Base previously confirmed to Decrypt that the network “did not sell the token, nor was it official in any way.”
“Don’t expect coins from me or @pumpdotfun or any employees (no ‘stealth launches’ either),” the Pump.fun co-founder wrote, following the token’s crash.
Pump.Fun too has been embroiled in its own controversy, facing backlash last year over livestreamed stunts involving threats of self-harm, unsafe behavior, and the brief appearance of illicit content on its platform over token prices.
‘Social responsibility’
Despite disclaimers on Zora’s site that the asset was unofficial and offered “no expectations,” traders and builders alike felt blindsided.
“If you launch a coin AND have social influence, that comes with responsibility,” Cohen said, criticizing the lack of guardrails in the rollout.
Cohen also said that while his platform “will continue experimenting at the intersection of social media and tokenization,” they’ll do their best to ensure that “we’re aligned with our core user base.”
Base, for its part, defended the token’s creation as part of its push to “bring content onchain,” saying that the tokens aren’t official assets of Base or Coinbase and will never be sold.“If we want the future to be onchain, we have to be willing to experiment in public,” the network said while Jesse Pollak, creator of Base, also took to X, saying they’re “building a global onchain economy.”
Amid the chaos, Cohen cautioned that influence in crypto comes with unwritten responsibilities, noting builders are expected to “stick to this space’s social standards to a tee—don’t launch or shill other coins, don’t set high expectations, don’t talk about price,” especially when operating in public.
He added that such standards aren’t top-down mandates, noting they are “not dictated by myself, Pump.Fun, Coinbase, or the President,” but instead shaped by “the users that are in the trenches every single day.”
Though it crashed hard, the auto-minted token has bounced back somewhat, sitting at roughly $16.5 million in market cap, DexScreener data shows.
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
