Coinbase’s Layer 2 network, Base, is facing intense scrutiny after what appears to be a major pump and dump—one that it inadvertently helped fuel. The project’s official Twitter account publicly promoted a meme coin titled “Base is for everyone.”
This triggered a speculative surge, driving the token’s market cap to an estimated $15 to $20 million within hours of launch. The token quickly plummeted near zero in mutes.
Did Base Just Help Fuel a Pump and Dump?
Base’s tweet, which featured promotional imagery and direct links to the meme coin on Zora, created the perception of legitimacy.
Traders piled in, and price charts reflected an explosive rally—followed by an equally sharp collapse.
Within one 4-hour trading window, a green candle representing millions in inflow was immediately reversed by a red candle of equal size, marking a total loss of liquidity and confirming a textbook pump and dump.
The token’s value fell by more than 99%, and trading volumes on Uniswap surged past $13 million during the brief window of activity.
base just had a major rug pull, here’s what went down
what happened
→ official base twitter promoted memecoin “base is for everyone”
→ immediate speculative frenzy, token pumped from launch to ~$15-20m mc
→ liquidity pulled, token instantly collapsed to near-zero within… pic.twitter.com/rQzgCg59Z3— Abhi (@0xAbhiP) April 16, 2025
There is massive ongoing outrage against both Coinbase and Base. Crypto influencers have called the incident a failure of due diligence and communications strategy.
Accusations of incompetence and poor risk oversight are spreading fast on social media, while memes mocking the network’s “Base is for everyone” slogan are everywhere.
Base is yet to provide an official response to the incident.
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