Nick Shirley’s Base Creator Token Plummets 67% After $9M Hype
Nick Shirley’s creator token ($THENICKSHIRLEY) launched on Coinbase’s Base via Zora surged to a near $9 million fully diluted valuation after a viral 42-minute investigative video drove hundreds of millions of views and high-profile amplification. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly praised the launch as a demonstration of on-chain creator monetization. Within hours and days, the token lost roughly 67%, falling to about $3 million as trading momentum evaporated and liquidity proved thin. On-chain data shows Shirley earned an estimated $41,600–$65,000 in creator royalties from trading activity. Critics say the episode highlights a structural problem for creator coins: strong speculator-driven spikes without real user onboarding or durable demand. Similar patterns have appeared on Base and other SocialFi experiments (Zora, Friend.tech); a Solana meme token tied to the episode also briefly spiked then faded. For traders, the episode underlines high short-term volatility, thin liquidity, and opportunity for rapid profit-taking or losses in creator tokens — signalling speculative risk rather than mainstream user adoption.
Bearish
The news is bearish for creator tokens and the short-term market perception of SocialFi. A 67% collapse within hours demonstrates acute price volatility and thin liquidity — conditions that deter institutional entrants and mainstream users. Historical parallels include other creator/meme token episodes where viral attention produced sharp spikes followed by steep declines (e.g., Friend.tech surges and falls, various Solana meme pumps). Short-term effects: heightened speculative trading, rapid profit-taking, spikes in sell pressure and widened bid-ask spreads on Base and Zora listings. Traders can expect continued flash crashes and liquidity-driven risks for similar launches. Long-term effects: repeated failures to convert viral attention into sustained onboarding may chill investment in creator coin experiments, slow user growth on Base/Zora, and push builders to redesign token utility, vesting, or liquidity mechanisms. For traders, the event signals opportunities for short-term scalps and arbitrage but warns against position sizing for sustained exposure; risk management (tight stops, small allocations) is recommended.