Coinbase's Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution, Base, has become a playground for memecoin madness, witnessing a surge in questionable tokens and classic token rug pulls. Notably, a memecoin called "BALD," inspired by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, skyrocketed by a staggering 289,000 % within the first 14 hours of trading. Surprisingly, Bald Token lacks an official website, purpose, creator, or utility.
Data from blockchain analysis service Lookonchain revealed that a few investors made a tremendous return, experiencing a 100,000% gain on their initial investment. In just four minutes of trading, four wallet addresses invested 0.5 ETH (worth around $950 at the time) in BALD, only to exchange their holdings for 554 ETH, valued at over $1 million, eight hours later. Another memecoin with the ticker BASED also witnessed an extraordinary rally, surging by over 1,000,000% in the last 20 hours.
Despite BASED's fully diluted market cap reaching a remarkable $1.39 billion, memecoins like these are known for their extreme volatility, and investing in them is akin to gambling. Additionally, the influx of numerous new, unbacked tokens on the Base network brings a higher ris k of scams and financial losses. A developer allegedly stole an undisclosed amount of ETH from investors, promising to return it after doubling the funds, only to disappear after deleting their Telegram account.
As the memecoin surge continues, some analysts caution against investing in such tokens at this stage. The pseudonymous professional trader "Horse" advised his 180,000 followers against buying tokens like BALD, suggesting it may not be a wise move. Coinbase launched the Base network for developers on July 13, making transactions relatively technical. To interact with tokens on Base, investors must send their ETH to a Coinbase developer contract address and then exchange it for their chosen token on specialized decentralized exchanges like LeetSwap. Notably, Base user s currently cannot bridge their tokens outside the network until Base developers introduce a token bridge.
