On April 20, Zora coins surged to an all-time high in daily active users, driven by a wave of viral activity tied to the cannabis-themed cultural moment of “4/20.”
The spike saw more than 200,000 transacting users, marking a milestone for the platform. But instead of being a celebratory moment for Base and its ecosystem, it sparked a polarizing debate over the value, or lack thereof, of so-called “content coins.”
The Surge and the Backlash
At the center of the storm is Head of Base and Coinbase Wallet Jesse Pollak, who took to X to hail the milestone as a sign of growing on-chain adoption. However, the fanfare was cut short by sharp criticism from pseudonymous blockchain investigator ZachXBT.
“All of these ‘viral’ coins yet not even a single $5M+ runner,” he posted, criticizing the model as little more than micro-cap meme coins repackaged. His argument? If most content tokens never achieve meaningful liquidity, how can they realistically support creators?
Pollak responded with an impassioned defense, arguing that a lot of content was worth nothing:
“Most of it is worth close to zero, a small percentage of it is worth something, and an even smaller amount is worth a large amount.”
He also likened content coins to the monetization models of social platforms like TikTok and Instagram, where only a few posts can generate huge returns:
“How often do you think instagram or tiktok generates enough revenue from a single piece of content attention to generate a $5m valuation?”
The developer maintained that Zora’s model, which lets creators tokenize individual pieces of content, is still in its infancy, “day one,” as he put it, and should be judged by engagement and cultural relevance rather than speculative trading volume.
Prominent crypto commentator Zach Guzmán also weighed in on the debate, suggesting that content coins shouldn’t be viewed like their meme counterparts. Instead, he framed Zora’s model as a way for creators to monetize volume rather than rely on speculative pumps.
Still, critics remain unconvinced, with some dismissing the trend as a “throw as much sh*t out there and see what might rise above” approach that harms the industry’s reputation.
A Battle of Philosophies
There’s also an ideological split about who these coins are really for. While Pollak insists that platforms prioritize creators and developers, critics like Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen are of the opposite opinion. “If you’re tokenizing anything, traders come first,” he argued, claiming that when crypto traders cannot benefit, “creators & devs don’t eat.”
The controversy follows closely on the heels of the contentious rollout of the Base is for everyone token. Marketed as a content coin rather than a meme asset, it skyrocketed to a $17 million market cap before crashing amid suspicions of insider trading, with on-chain trackers pointing to wallets that allegedly profited over $600,000 by front-running the token’s launch.
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