Base's Memecoin Loses 95% Value, Wallets Profit 266,000 Dollars

Base is for Everyone, the latest memecoin to capture the attention of the crypto community, experienced a tumultuous launch on the Zora platform. Promoted by the Base network, the coin initially surged but quickly lost over 95 percent of its value within days. However, the memecoin staged an unexpected recovery, with its market cap now standing at around 16 million dollars.

Despite the dramatic downturn, which left many investors stunned, blockchain data revealed that a select few wallets managed to capitalize on the volatility. These wallets made substantial profits by purchasing tokens at the lowest prices and selling them during the brief rally that followed the Base launch and subsequent marketing efforts. This episode has intensified calls for greater transparency and fairness in markets that appear to be manipulated.

Three wallets, in particular, made significant gains from the memecoin’s initial volatility. These wallets made their purchases just before Base sent out its promotional tweet, raising questions about whether insiders had access to non-public information prior to the announcement. Wallet 0x0992 initially spent around 2,370 dollars for about 256.39 million tokens. Shortly after that, the price surged, and this wallet sold all of its tokens for approximately 170,400 dollars.

Another wallet, 0x5D9D, had an even more remarkable outcome. It spent 1 ETH (approximately 1,577 dollars) to buy 82.86 million tokens and later sold them for 169.7 ETH, equivalent to about 267,600 dollars. The profit margin was approximately 266,000 dollars, achieved in a matter of hours. The third wallet, 0xBD31, spent 1 ETH (worth 1,577 dollars) to acquire 131.92 million tokens. Of these, 109.92 million were sold for 148 ETH (equivalent to 233,400 dollars today). Profits are, to some degree, even more pronounced because 0xBD31 hasn’t sold all the tokens it acquired, and presumably never will.

These actions have sparked both praise and criticism within the community. Some view the wallets' actions as savvy, opportunistic trading in a semi-efficient market, while others see the access to such information as problematic and memecoins as still a thing. The sharp profits, especially their timing just before the Base tweet, have fueled speculation and debate. Was it a lucky guess, a deep on-chain analysis, or something more concerning like leaked or inside information? As usual in crypto, answers are hard to come by, but the questions themselves serve as a reminder of the ongoing issue of an uneven playing field in the decentralized space.

The very nature of memecoins is that they are often speculative and volatile; when you’re tying them to promotional activity by major networks like Base, you’re really cranking up the stakes and possible rewards. As with past memecoin surges, this one has the potential to line the pockets of those with quicker reflexes and better access to the promotional pumps before the rest of the market even knows what’s happening. The community is increasingly demanding clarity from Base about the timing of these trades and the wallets implicated in them. Why? Because major entities are directly promoting or supporting meme assets, and the community is asking for greater transparency in these situations.

Even though the value initially plunged by 95 percent, Base is for Everyone has managed to stabilize and even has rebounded to a certain extent. The current market cap of 16 million dollars suggests there’s still a decent amount of interest in the token, maybe pushed by its link with Base or the possible future growth of the community. Yet, the project has to live with early profit-taking as a potential shadow. Whether the token can build a sustainable community and value proposition is an open question, but we do know this: the world of memecoins continues to operate at an exceedingly high speed, rewarding above all else, it seems, a combination of astute timing, shrewd strategy, and just plain luck.