Base’s recent push to spotlight “creator coins” — tokens tied to individual creators, posts or specific content — has ignited a backlash from builders who say the network is showing clear favoritism.
What’s happening
- Base, the Ethereum Layer 2 built by Coinbase using the OP Stack, has become a hotbed for creator coins in recent months. Zora, the NFT marketplace, sits at the center of that narrative as the partner most closely associated with the initiative.
- Supporters say creator coins offer a new on-chain revenue stream for artists and a cultural on-ramp to crypto. On-chain metrics back strong activity: daily token mints on Base reportedly surpassed Solana in August, and Basescan shows the chain still averages more than 10 million transactions per day.
Why builders are upset
- Many developers and token projects on Base feel the platform’s promotional efforts are increasingly narrow, favoring Zora-linked endeavors while sidelining other Base-native projects that helped bootstrap the ecosystem.
- On X, a prominent voice in Base’s “degen” token scene, Jacek, publicly criticized the platform’s selective marketing. He said Base’s official channels won’t follow or acknowledge a lot of non-Zora launches — a sharp contrast to the support his project received from Solana’s official X account and Helius CEO Mert Mumtaz when it bridged to Solana.
- That perception of exclusion has left some builders questioning the incentive to continue investing in Base if their work won’t get visibility or support.
Wider implications
- The dispute exposes a classic tension for emerging blockchains: how to scale adoption and cultural momentum without alienating the developer community that creates real utility. For now Base’s activity metrics remain strong, but deteriorating sentiment could drive projects to rival chains like Solana or Sui that they feel offer more equitable support.
- There’s also governance optics at play — centralized promotional decisions that appear to favor one partner risk undermining the open, permissionless expectations of many builders.
What to watch
- Will Base broaden its promotion to include a wider set of projects, or double down on the Zora-aligned creator coin strategy?
- Whether disenfranchised projects begin migrating to other chains — and if so, how many — will be an important signal for Base’s long-term developer appetite.
- Any official response from Base or changes in how the platform highlights launches and community activity.
Bottom line
Base’s creator-coin momentum has energized a new kind of on-chain culture, but the platform now faces a reputational test: balance the benefits of a focused growth strategy with the need to keep builders feeling seen and supported, or risk losing the very community that fueled its early rise.
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