Base creator Jesse Pollak is dealing with rising criticism after publicly selling what gave the impression to be a meme token linked to rapper Soulja Boy.
This case reignites long-standing issues about movie star involvement in speculative crypto tasks.
Sponsored
Sponsored
The controversy unfolded over a collection of posts on X (Twitter) in mid-December. On December 13, Soulja Boy shared a comparability of creator payout schedules throughout main platforms, arguing that newer apps supplied sooner monetization.
“Twitch pays you once a month. TikTok pays you once a week. Favorited pays you once a day. Choose your poison wisely,” the rapper wrote.
A day later, Pollak appeared to amplify the message whereas positioning Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer‑2 community, as a brand new creator-focused monetization layer.
With this comment, Jesse Pollak framed on-chain instruments as a superior different to conventional social platforms.
The state of affairs escalated when Pollak instantly replied to Soulja Boy. The crypto government said that he had simply backed Soulja Boy on Base and had “instantly earned,” describing the dynamic as “new internet” habits.
Notably, Pollak didn’t explicitly promote a selected token by identify. Nonetheless, many customers interpreted the trade as an endorsement of a Soulja Boy–linked meme token and, extra broadly, of the rapper’s crypto exercise.
Sponsored
Sponsored
ZachXBT Calls Out Soulja Boy’s Crypto Historical past
That notion triggered a swift response from blockchain investigator ZachXBT. The sleuth publicly questioned Pollak’s determination to have interaction with Soulja Boy in any respect.
“Why give SouljaBoy the platform to scam new people?” ZachXBT posed, referencing his prior investigations into the rapper’s crypto historical past.
ZachXBT pointed to analysis he printed in April 2023 documenting what he described as a sample of exploitative habits.
In response to that investigation, Soulja Boy was concerned in 73 crypto promotions and 16 NFT launches. Many allegedly resulted in collapses, deserted tasks, or rug pulls.
Sponsored
Sponsored
The analysis detailed repeated cases by which promoted tokens misplaced worth shortly after heavy advertising and marketing, adopted by the deletion of promotional posts.
The investigator additionally highlighted alleged regulatory and authorized points surrounding the rapper’s previous exercise. Amongst them are previous SEC expenses associated to Tron promotions and a lawsuit linked to SafeMoon.
Past tokens, the analysis described quite a few NFT drops that marketed future utility however had been later deserted, with some collections reportedly faraway from marketplaces as a consequence of issues over mental property.
For critics, the problem extends past any single token. They argue that when outstanding builders like Pollak, who performs a key function in shaping Base’s public picture, interact with controversial figures, it dangers undermining belief within the broader ecosystem.
Base has positioned itself as a mainstream-friendly, compliant Layer‑2 community backed by Coinbase, making reputational threat notably delicate.
Ethereum Layer-2 Networks by TVS. Supply: L2BeatSponsored
Sponsored
The episode has reignited a well-recognized debate in crypto. Accountability lies when influential builders amplify celebrity-driven tasks with troubled observe data.
“Even if intentions were lighthearted, credibility risk compounds fast when serious builders mingle with serial promoters. Markets judge alignment, not tone. Signal erodes when attention shifts from innovation to spectacle, and liquidity follows perception,” one person expressed.
Supporters of open networks argue that permissionless methods mustn’t police who can construct or promote on‑chain.
Critics counter that visibility from senior ecosystem leaders capabilities as implicit validation, particularly for newcomers.
The backlash dealing with Pollak highlights the rising scrutiny on how main platforms stability openness with due diligence. It additionally exhibits how shortly previous controversies resurface when belief is at stake. That is as crypto as soon as once more experiments with creator monetization and meme-driven distribution.
