Coinbase’s Base Network Reportedly Facilitates $16 Million Pump-and-Dump Scheme

Recent allegations suggest that Coinbase’s Base Network may have been exploited to orchestrate a pump-and-dump scheme, resulting in approximately $16 million in manipulated trading activity. The incident has raised concerns about market integrity and the potential vulnerabilities within emerging blockchain ecosystems. Regulatory scrutiny is expected to intensify as investigators examine the mechanics of the alleged scheme and its impact on retail investors.

Did Base Just Help Fuel a Pump and Dump? 

Base’s tweet, which featured promotional imagery and direct links to the meme coin on Zora, created the perception of legitimacy. 

Traders piled in, and price charts reflected an explosive rally—followed by an equally sharp collapse. 

Within one 4-hour trading window, a green candle representing millions in inflow was immediately reversed by a red candle of equal size, marking a total loss of liquidity and confirming a textbook pump and dump. 

The token’s value fell by more than 99%, and trading volumes on Uniswap surged past $13 million during the brief window of activity.

base just had a major rug pull, here's what went down

what happened

→ official base twitter promoted memecoin "base is for everyone"
→ immediate speculative frenzy, token pumped from launch to ~$15-20m mc
→ liquidity pulled, token instantly collapsed to near-zero within… pic.twitter.com/rQzgCg59Z3

There is massive ongoing outrage against both Coinbase and Base. Crypto influencers have called the incident a failure of due diligence and communications strategy. 

Accusations of incompetence and poor risk oversight are spreading fast on social media, while memes mocking the network’s “Base is for everyone” slogan are everywhere.

Base is yet to provide an official response to the incident.