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29 Other Meme Coins Besides BALD Rugged on Base

Scope data on July 31 shows that 29 meme coins were launched over the weekend on Base to capitalize on the recent frenzy surrounding BaldBaseBald (BALD), a meme coin inspired by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

However, all 29 meme coins have since been rugged, with the deployer exiting with over $1 million after seeding roughly $105,000 of ETH as liquidity. Base is an Ethereum layer-2 platform based on Optimism roll-up technology. 

Rug Pulls On Base

On July 29 and 30, there was excitement about the meme coin, BALD, as its prices exploded by as much as 4,000X, pushing the token’s market cap to over $100 million. This was great news for those who invested early as some exited as the wave rise, profiting.

Some builders took advantage of the hype and created meme coins to deceive investors eager to join the BALD trend, eventually resulting in losses for some meme coin token holders.

While BALD has already been rug-pulled, Scope notes that the address behind the 29 meme coins also has a history of rug-pulling in other platforms, including the BNB Chain and Arbitrum, a popular Ethereum layer-2 platform. In platforms where meme coins are traded, liquidity, provided by the community, is essential due to the decentralized nature of trading. 

Rug pullers typically supply liquidity to their meme coins, which attracts more users to buy the coin and increases liquidity as prices rise. However, the creator then deliberately withdraws liquidity at this point, converting their meme coins to a more liquid coin like Ethereum, causing their token prices to drop to zero.

As of July 31, hours after the rug pull, the address primarily held USDC and a small portion of ETH in their portfolio, with no meme coins. This potentially highlights the rug puller’s risk-averseness and his concerns about the risks involved in this asset class.

Related Reading: Bitcoin Crucial Moment: Will Resistance At $29,500 Trigger A Sell-Off Or Surge?

Meme Coins Are Volatile

Meme coins are popular in crypto, especially Ethereum, where they are minted as fungible ERC-20 tokens in their trillions. Dogecoin, endorsed by Elon Musk, is the most liquid and widely recognized.

Despite rising popularity, there are concerns about their volatility and lack of utility, with some critics labeling them as “casinos” that undermine the true vision of crypto as an alternative financial system.

Dogecoin price on July 31 as 29 meme coins rugged on Base| Source: DOGEUSDT on Binance, TradingView

For example, the collapse of BALD, which commanded billions in market cap on Base over the weekend, has drawn widespread condemnation. Besides BALD, other like PEPE and LADYS are struggling, dropping by over 70% from their all-time peaks registered in H1 2023.

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Why This Signal Means Uniswap’s Bear Run Is Almost Over

The price of Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange by trading volume, is down roughly 35% from Q1 2023 peaks. Even so, on-chain data from Etherscan shows that there has been a steady increase in the number of UNI holders in the past two days.

As of May 13, there were 369,646 UNI holders. Since then, the number has increased to over 370,100 as of May 26. During this time, UNI prices have remained stable but relatively high.

Uniswap Price On May 6| Source: UNIUSDT On Binance, TradingView

Based on the UNIUSDT chart, the prices have found support around $4.9. However, prices have increased by approximately 10% over the past two weeks, rising to $5.4. Although the number of UNI holders may not directly affect the prices, there is a clear correlation between the demand for UNI and the increase in token prices.

Several factors could have provided tailwinds for UNI, the governance token of Uniswap. 

Apple Jail Break

On May 23, Uniswap’s mobile wallet was released from what Uniswap Labs, the team maintaining Uniswap, said was “Apple jail.” 

With this jailbreak, users can download the Uniswap Wallet, that’s non-custodial like MetaMask. 

Through this wallet, users can buy and sell various supported cryptocurrencies. 

This announcement is bullish because as more users opt for Uniswap Wallet, the demand for the decentralized exchange could rise, increasing its dominance and stature. 

While MetaMask remains the most dominant Ethereum and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) wallet enabling the storing and trading of various tokens, even using processors like PayPal, the popularity of Uniswap could see Uniswap Wallet gnaw market share. 

Presently, Uniswap Labs said their wallet could support the trading of tokens across Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism, and Arbitrum.

Uniswap To Launch On Base?

Earlier on, the Uniswap contributors proposed the deployment of the DEX v3 on Coinbase’s Base. 

Among supporters of this proposal is GFX Labs, one of the largest UNI holders and supporters of Uniswap’s expansion to other chains. Recently, GFX Labs voted for the launch of the DEX on BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and MoonBeam. 

Even so, before voting starts, the proposal will undergo a “temperature check-up” to gauge community support. If there is majority support, it will proceed to the next step.

Uniswap v3 is the latest iteration of the DEX, introducing the concept of concentrated liquidity for higher capital efficiency and more return on investment (ROI) for liquidity providers. 

Base is a layer-2, open-source, and EVM-compatible platform by Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

It is unclear whether the above-spurred demand for UNI, pushed the number of holders higher in the last week.  However, this could suggest that the project is generating interest, which may support future token prices.

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When Is A Token Coming For Coinbase’s Base L2? Here’s What The Roadmap Says

Crypto exchange Coinbase announced and launched the testnet for its very own Layer 2 blockchain called Base earlier in February 2023. Since the launch, there have been speculations about the exchange launching a token for the L2, which has now been clarified in the newly released roadmap for Base.

Base Roadmap Mentions No Token

Following the launch of Base, crypto exchange Coinbase made it known that there were no plans to actually launch a token for the Layer 2 blockchain. Nevertheless, this did not stop the speculations, but with the release of its roadmap, the team seems to have put an abrupt halt to all rumors regarding a token.

The roadmap which was published on Wednesday on the Coinbase website clearly states that “Base has no plans to issue a network token.” Instead, it will continue to operate like most other Ethereum Layer 2 blockchains, using ETH as a way to carry out transactions and pay for gas fees.

As the L2 moves closer toward a mainnet launch, the team is rather focusing on builders on the chain. It is also looking toward upgrading Optimism’s Bedrock, as well as all of the reviews and audits while making sure the testate remains stable.

“We’ve been building towards Mainnet Genesis, the first step of delivering a decentralized platform that scales Ethereum with fast, low-cost and secure transactions. As we prepare to upgrade from testnet to mainnet, we want to build in the open and keep the community informed of our roadmap and status,” the statement said.

Coinbase stock price chart from TradingView.com (Base)

Coinbase Will Face Fierce Competition In L2 Market

While blockchain is still not as mainstream as industry participants would like, they are being developed rapidly. As Coinbase enters the L2 space, it is coming into fierce competition with other L2s that are already live on the mainnet.

The likes of Optimism and Arbitrum have seen a reasonable level of success since their launch, which signals that Base could be just as successful. However, one thing the former have are tokens that are already trading across major exchanges. As such, they may continue to see the most interest from investors who are chasing gains from these tokens.

Nevertheless, Base is still a highly anticipated L2 expected to launch in mainnet sometime in 2023. There is no reason to doubt Coinbase’s stance in not creating a token, but this could always change as Arbitrum operated for two years before launching a token.

Arbitrum, Polygon, and Optimism remain the dominant L2s in the space with total value locked of $2.31 billion, $986.88 million, and $881.1 million respectively.