Base Creator Coin Crashes 67% in Hours – Nick Shirley’s $9M Token Proves “It Just Didn’t Work”
The speedy rise and collapse of a creator token tied to YouTuber Nick Shirley is fueling renewed debate over whether or not “creator cash” can ship lasting on-chain exercise, even when backed by viral consideration and main platforms.
The token, launched on Coinbase-backed Ethereum layer-2 community Base by way of the Zora creator platform, misplaced roughly 67% of its worth inside hours, falling from a peak valuation close to $9 million to about $3 million by Jan. 1, 2026.
Shirley’s Creator Token Surged on Hype, Then Lost Momentum
Shirley’s token, traded beneath the ticker $THENICKSHIRLEY, emerged in late 2025 after a 42-minute investigative video he published went viral throughout X, drawing tons of of hundreds of thousands of views and a spotlight from high-profile figures.
Here is the complete 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this may be my most necessary work but. We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it round like wildfire! Its time to carry these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable
We ALL… pic.twitter.com/E3Penx2o7a
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) December 26, 2025
The video, centered on alleged childcare fraud in Minnesota, pushed Shirley into the middle of a political and media storm after the claims had been amplified by Elon Musk and figures tied to the Trump administration.
The allegations later grew to become a part of broader discussions cited when federal officers introduced a freeze on childcare funds to Minnesota.
Against that backdrop, Shirley’s creator token was promoted as a real-world take a look at of decentralized content material monetization.
The preliminary surge was swift because the buying and selling exercise drove the token’s totally diluted valuation to roughly $9 million, with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly praising the launch for example of on-chain creator monetization.
However, the rally pale nearly as shortly because it started. Within days, the token had dropped greater than 60%, with most buying and selling quantity coming from present on-chain merchants moderately than new customers onboarding to Base or Zora.
Despite the worth decline, on-chain knowledge confirmed that Shirley earned an estimated $41,600 to $65,000 in creator royalties tied to buying and selling exercise.
Critics argue that this final result highlights a structural imbalance, the place creators and early merchants profit from short-term hypothesis whereas broader adoption fails to materialize.
Several merchants described the episode as a missed alternative for Base and Zora to transform viral consideration into sustained consumer development.
One of probably the most broadly shared critiques got here from a dealer and content material creator generally known as notthreadguy, who argued in a video that Shirley’s launch represented the strongest attainable take a look at case for creator cash and nonetheless failed to point out sturdy demand.
He pointed to the shortage of follow-through from platforms and the absence of significant new consumer onboarding, noting that income and losses had been largely confined to speculative merchants already energetic on-chain.
Had an ideal chat as we speak with @notthreadguy – numerous good concepts
Thank you for the ideas
https://t.co/cWNr80ZxCF
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) January 1, 2026
Additionally, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong acknowledged having a “chat” with notthreadguy.
The backlash landed amid broader frustration with creator-focused experiments on Base.
Other Zora-linked tokens have adopted comparable patterns, marked by sharp worth spikes adopted by speedy declines and skinny liquidity.
A separate Solana-based meme coin, $LEARING, created by third events to capitalize on a spelling error noticed in Shirley’s video, briefly reached a market capitalization above $3.3 million earlier than additionally fading.
The episode comes as Base continues to place itself as a hub for decentralized social functions, following earlier experiments similar to Friend.tech and newer platforms like Farcaster and Zora.
Industry forecasts mission the SocialFi sector may exceed $10 billion by 2033, but consumer retention has remained uneven.
Friend.tech, usually cited as an early success, saw daily active users peak near 80,000 earlier than falling under 10,000.
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