Base has surpassed Solana in daily token launches, driven by a boom in creator coins minted from social posts on the Base app. But with most of the activity driven by short-term traders, the question now is whether this new creator economy can last.
The Ethereum (ETH) Layer 2 network Base, developed by Coinbase, has just surpassed Solana (SOL) in daily token launches.
This was largely driven by a powerful new mechanism that turns social content into tradable tokens. Each time a user posts on the Base app, Zora’s smart contracts automatically mint an ERC-20 token linked to that piece of content. This token or “creator coin” is then launched on Base and becomes instantly tradable. The original creator then receives a portion of the supply and earns fees every time the token is traded, turning every post into a potential revenue stream.
This new creator economy has led to over 1.6 million tokens launched and nearly 3 million traders participating, generating around $470 million in trading volume since the Base app relaunch. The flagship ZORA token itself now boasts a market cap of around $200 million — an increase of approximately 185% from its ~$70 million valuation in April. It peaked at about $310 million in late July before retracing to current levels.
Other notable creator coins on Base have also achieved substantial market caps and are driving substantial trading volumes, including:
For context, the Base app, which has served as a user-friendly front end to the Zora’s creator token ecosystem, was rebranded from Coinbase Wallet in mid-July. It’s now a comprehensive SocialFi platform that combines social networking (powered by Farcaster), USD Coin (USDC) payments, onchain identity management, and dApp discovery.
Despite the rapid growth in these creator coins, much of the activity is driven by short-term traders who are after quick profits, which isn’t sustainable. To address this, Jesse Pollak, the creator of Base, has suggested that crypto funds step up by taking sizable, long-term positions — such as $5 million or more — in creator coin indexes, calling this a “a relatively no-brainer opportunity to win as the onchain creator economy grows.”
