Base’s promotion of designer coins, largely through its close alignment with NFT marketplace Zora, is drawing growing criticism from community members who say the strategy alienates projects that helped reignite the network’s initial momentum.
In recent months, Base has become the epicenter of “creator coins,” which are tokens tied to individual creators, posts, or pieces of content, with Zora positioned at the center of this narrative.
Supporters argue that the model represents a new on-chain revenue stream for creators and a cultural on-ramp into crypto. Onchain data also reflects strong activity, with daily token minting on Base surpassing Solana in August this year.
But frustration is growing within the Base on X community. Builders say Base fosters a narrow, privileged ecosystem while marginalizing other Base-native projects with established communities and track records.
Jacek, who manages the degen token ecosystem on Base, expressed his frustration on X with a message echoing a shift in negative sentiment.
Jacek argued that Base’s marketing and social support has become increasingly selective, favoring Zora-related initiatives while ignoring projects that previously brought significant growth and liquidity to the chain.
“I’m really disappointed in @base’s forced push around designer pieces,” he wrote. “We still can’t get the official Base
Jacek added that when degen joined Solana, they received immediate support from the official Solana X account and Mert Mumtaz, CEO of Helius.
The backlash highlights a broader tension facing Base as it struggles to bridge the gap between widespread adoption while maintaining positive sentiment with those who create apps or tokens on Base.
In the short term, Base is doing just fine as it continues to average more than 10 million transactions per day, according to Basescan, but the decline in sentiment could lead to an exodus to other chains like Solana or Sui.
Whether or not Base will adapt to the changing sentiment remains to be seen, but rival blockchains will be waiting in the wings to capitalize if the general mood among Base builders continues to plummet.
