What I read this week (May 5, 2025)
Base, Zora, & Authenticity
The Zora/Base Controversy: Wrestling with Authenticity
Summary: In April 2025, Zora—an on-chain social platform built on Coinbase's Base Layer-2—launched its native $ZORA token amid controversy over its 65% insider allocation and "for fun only" designation. This followed a separate incident where Base's "Base is for everyone" post was tokenized as a content coin that experienced extreme volatility, with evidence suggesting some wallets may have had advance knowledge. These events have sparked debate about creator monetization strategies and authentic community building in crypto.
RR: I'm glad that I'm a bit late writing this one because as I'm writing this, Zora's token has now been live for 2-weeks and is just 2% off the all-time low it hit a few hours ago. I'm not happy about this (even though I did get much less of an airdrop than I would have expected), but it's endemic of the state of the crypto markets.
Participants are tired of the over saturation of tokens. Generally IMO, the oversaturation felt like it was from infrastructure tokens, but Zora is about as "consumer" as you can get. Zora's mobile app is very nice and feel more like Instagram or an app someone not in crypto could use.
What strikes me most about this controversy is the tension between Zora's authentic brand and their recent actions. Zora has always felt like a uniquely genuine platform in the crypto space with distinctive branding and a clear mission of empowering creators with monetization paths. Their pivot to content coins makes sense as a natural evolution of this mission.
But the timing and execution of everything leading up to the $ZORA launch felt uncharacteristically rushed and inauthentic. It seemed like they were trying to capitalize on the memecoin (content coin) narrative right before launching their token, which created a disconnect with their normally thoughtful approach. I get that they likely felt pressure to generate momentum and keep themselves in the spotlight in an attention drive space, but the execution came across as forced.
Early-stage crypto projects almost universally begin with genuine missions and enthusiastic communities. The challenge comes when token economics and growth imperatives enter the picture, often creating incentives that can compromise those original values.
Zora taking a real stab at content coins and hyper-ephemerality feels like a logical conclusion of where crypto might go. These experiments should be encouraged, even if they sometimes miss the mark.
At the same time, I worry about Jesse Pollak becoming a "main character" on Crypto Twitter. There's an uncomfortable eagerness among some to "catch him" or "cancel" him over increasingly trivial matters. This pile-on mentality does nothing to advance the discussions around tokenomics, token launches, and what market participants are looking for.
Ultimately, Zora's path forward depends on reconnecting with the authenticity that made them special in the first place. A bit of cringe is totally fine and should even be encouraged in a space that takes itself too seriously, but maintaining trust with your community requires careful alignment between your stated values and your actions.