An on-chain social platform and decentralized protocol, Zora is making a breakthrough move beyond its non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and creator roots with the launch of “Attention Markets” on Solana, a product that allows users to trade tokens tied to internet trends, memes, and cultural moments.
The feature, unveiled on February 17, allows anyone to create a new market for 1 SOL. Once online, users can buy and sell positions on whether a topic will gain or lose traction on social media.
Instead of betting on elections or macro data, traders speculate on the buzz itself – like hashtags, viral stories, or even broader themes like “AI girlfriend” or “bitcoin.”
The design leans heavily on Solana’s strengths. Fast lock times and low transaction costs make it easier to support rapid price updates and frequent transactions, essential to markets built around ephemeral online momentum.
Initial activity, however, was limited. The main token “attentionmarkets” briefly touched around $70,000 in market cap, with a trading volume of around $200,000. Most other trending markets have struggled to attract significant liquidity, and few have broken the $10,000 mark on day one.
The percentage changes were marked, although largely due to weak order books rather than sustained demand.
Zora was among the flagship applications of Coinbase’s Layer 2 core network in recent years. It launched its ZORA token there in April and helped roll out creator coins tied to Base profiles in July, a push that briefly helped Base overtake Solana in daily token creation.
Creator Coins are tokens tied to an individual creator’s online profile, brand, or community. Think of them as tradable “shares” in a person’s Internet presence.
On platforms like Zora and Base, a creator piece could be automatically generated from a user’s profile. Fans might purchase the piece to signal support, gain social influence, or speculate on the creator’s growing popularity. As more people bought, the price might rise, and if interest decreased, it might fall.
As such, some members of the Base community saw the new “attention markets” product as a pivot in this momentum.
Jacek Trociński, the developer behind Base memecoin Degen, called it “really disappointing” to see Zora move to Solana. Veil Cash’s builder, Apex777.eth, was harsher, accusing Zora of “extracting” value from Base before switching networks.
Meanwhile, Base creator Jesse Pollak said Zora’s creation tools remain “fully operational” on the network.
As speculation moves beyond price charts and into cultural data, platforms like Zora are testing whether attention itself can become memetic and deeply tied to the real-time financial pulse of the Internet.
