We’d like you to picture a world in which all people—even those who have been historically marginalized—have access to the financial tools once available only to the well-connected. Crypto promised us a different, fairer world entirely. It imagined a future where a smallholder farmer in rural Bangladesh had access to the same kinds of investments available to a Wall Street hedge fund manager. I saw that promise. I believed in that promise. And then, there was this one—“Base is for everyone."

This is not the usual tale of democratization. It’s a tragic and cautionary story of profit seeking, false marketing, deception and a palatial abandonment of the basic tenets that crypto was founded on.

Crypto's Robin Hood or Sheriff of Nottingham?

We often write about the ways that crypto is disrupting and democratizing traditional finance. What do you do when these disruptors become the exact thing they set out to disrupt? The “Base is for everyone” fiasco is a particularly jarring reminder of the pitfalls still lurking within the Wild West of Web3. In the meantime, the sheriffs continue to be absent, exposing users to danger. Or worse, they're in on the heist.

The story of democratized finance crashes to the ground as soon as a memecoin releases following an official Base account tweet. It then skyrockets to a $17 million market cap, only to be rug-pulled 10 minutes later, burning thousands of investors and turning their tokens into dust. This isn't democratization; it's exploitation.

Think about it. And who are the most vulnerable, often punished in the worst times? It's often those with the least financial literacy, those who are drawn to crypto's promise of quick riches, particularly in regions like South Asia, where I've witnessed firsthand the potential – and the peril – of this technology. They hear “Base is for everybody.” They take it to be a greenlight, meaning that this is a sure thing to go forward. They invest their hard-earned savings with great expectations. All the while, whales are sitting on the sidelines waiting to dump their supply at the last possible second.

This isn’t simply a market correction, it’s a vicious racist attack on the most vulnerable participants in the crypto ecosystem. It’s about like selling snake oil to people who are looking for a miracle cure.

Coinbase's Complicity: A Dangerous Game?

In their defense, Coinbase asserts that the “Base is for everyone” token was not an official product and was completely unaffiliated with them. Okay, fine. Let’s not act like they’re the blameless innocent bystanders in all of this. This entire debacle was set in motion by this tweet from the official Base account. They produced the circus, the fanfare, and the delusion of credibility.

Jesse Pollak's defense of tokenized content as the future of Web3 feels tone-deaf in the face of such blatant manipulation. Tokenized content sure seems promising, but like any emerging technology, it can be weaponized against the unsuspecting investor.

It’s the equivalent of a casino owner saying that he shouldn’t be held accountable when people lose their entire life savings at the roulette table. After all, they aren’t just a neutral platform, they profit directly from the activity on their sites and therefore have a moral obligation to protect their users.

And what’s up with that wallet address connected to Base that got handed 1% of the entire token supply? Coinbase's promise not to sell those tokens and redirect trading fees to the developer community is a start, but it doesn't undo the damage that's been done. It’s akin to trying to slap a band-aid on a gushing wound.

Coinbase’s stature as a regulated entity should assign it a responsibility to set a higher standard. They should be doing much more to protect the public from these types of scams, rather than issuing press releases in response. First, they must do more to promote financial literacy and adequately caution users about the dangers of memecoin investments.

Beyond Memes: Reclaiming Crypto's Soul.

The "Base is for everyone" incident is a symptom of a larger problem: the financialization of everything in Web3, where even memes and culture are being turned into speculative assets. We need to step back and ask ourselves: Is this really the future we want?

Here's how:

  • Financial Literacy Initiatives: Launch comprehensive educational resources that explain the risks of investing in memecoins and other speculative assets. Target these resources specifically towards vulnerable communities and emerging markets.
  • Community Outreach Programs: Partner with organizations working on financial inclusion in South Asia and other regions to provide on-the-ground education and support.
  • Transparency and Accountability: Demand greater transparency from Web3 projects and hold them accountable for their actions. Implement stricter content approval processes for official accounts.
  • Focus on Utility: Prioritize projects that offer real-world utility and solve real-world problems, not just fleeting hype.

Ultimately, we need to remember why we got into crypto in the first place: to create a more equitable and accessible financial system. This latest “Base is for everybody” rug pull is an unfortunate but necessary reminder that we are very early in this journey. All hope isn’t lost — we can still take back the soul of crypto! We need to hold ourselves accountable, hold Coinbase accountable, and hold the whole Web3 ecosystem accountable to higher standards. We can’t afford for greed and manipulation to write the future of this technology. Please join us in building a future where crypto is truly open to everyone. Everyone deserves the knowledge and resources to thrive in this new landscape.