TL;DR
- Zora will launch its own token on April 23, amid a sudden spike in activity linked to a campaign promoting rewards for creators.
- The “content coins” initiative led by Jesse Pollak triggered the creation of viral tokens and drove a surge to nearly 285,000 daily traders on Zora.
- Although Pollak denied any coordination with Zora, Coinbase’s role in funding the project and the allocation of 45% of the token to the team raised concerns.
The social platform Zora, built on Coinbase’s Base network, announced the launch of its own token for Wednesday, April 23.
The announcement comes after a week marked by increased activity on the platform, driven by a campaign initiated by Jesse Pollak, one of the key figures behind Base, who proposed the creation of “content coins” as a way to reward creators for their engagement.
$ZORA will be live on April 23, 2025. pic.twitter.com/yZdjlnDohH
— zora (@zora) April 20, 2025
The initiative began with the creation of a token titled Base is for everyone, which saw a rapid rise to a $16.9 million valuation before crashing 92% in just two hours. Despite its steep drop, Pollak defended the concept as a tool to reshape the digital economy and provide direct compensation to content producers. According to him, traditional platforms fail to offer adequate incentives, and tokens could help fill that gap.
Zora Activity Surges as Questions Mount Over Coinbase’s Role
In the following days, Zora saw an exponential increase in activity. Data from Dune shows daily traders jumped from 40,000 to nearly 285,000. This coincided with heavy promotion of the idea by Pollak, both on social media and in interviews. The close timing between the campaign and the token launch sparked suspicions among users and analysts, who questioned whether the sudden interest in “content coins” was meant to boost attention ahead of the release.
Pollak denied any coordination with the Zora team and claimed the project emerged spontaneously. He clarified that Zora’s team was unaware of the initial campaign and that he had received a prior suggestion before taking personal leave.
Still, the timing of the announcement raised further doubts about Coinbase’s involvement, as reports revealed the company had participated in funding rounds totaling $52 million for Zora’s development. Additionally, 45% of the new token’s supply will go to the team and strategic partners, which only deepened the skepticism.
