David Canellis

This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Last week, I <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/polymarket-culture-chasm">wrote about</a> the three killer-est apps of the cycle: Polymarket, Hyperliquid, pump.fun.



Notice that none of them is on Base.



Base has now had two shots at facilitating a potential killer crypto app already this cycle: AI agent launchpad Virtuals Protocol, the “Wall Street for AI Agents,” and now social media platform Zora, with the latter seeing two decent runs in the past 18 months.



Between December 2024 and January 2025 — peak Truth Terminal hype — Virtuals generated almost $11 million in net revenue, according to <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/virtuals">Blockworks Research data</a>, during which time more than 13,000 different AI agents were tokenized.&nbsp;



Last month: $105,000 revenue; 151 agents launched, even after Virtuals expanded beyond Base to Solana earlier this year.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1124" height="624" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107039" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=1124 1124w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-12.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1124px) 100vw, 1124px" /></figure>



Zora, which supports creator coins and turns every post into a tradable coin, has otherwise arrived at a key inflection point.&nbsp;



On one hand, August was a record month for <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/zora?dashboard=94">Zora protocol revenue</a>, reaching $1.3 million, and number of posts, with 1.1 million pieces of content tokenized. But on the weekly scale, revenue has fallen by more than half and stayed there for the past fortnight running, with only $20,000 per day a regular occurrence right now.



The total number of posting accounts has also dropped to about 8,000 per day, down 60% from an August 14 peak of 21,000.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1124" height="624" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107038" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=1124 1124w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-11.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1124px) 100vw, 1124px" /></figure>



Of course, it’s too early to call time on Zora, and maybe these ups and downs will become mere blips on the path to mass adoption by content creators and consumers.



It’s more likely that both Zora and Virtuals have simply run headfirst into the same wall: There’s just not enough people in crypto who want to do more than trade on exchanges to consistently drive growth.



To be clear: Trading apps are apps too. With that in mind, Base does have a relatively popular app in Aerodrome, the AMM that’s pulling in anywhere from two-thirds to three-quarters of total app revenue on Base, per <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/base?dashboard=62">BWR data</a>.



That’s around $15 million last month, which is decent but less than half the <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/pumpfun">revenue made by pump.fun</a>. It’s enough to place in first place when it comes to Ethereum <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/layer-2-2">layer-2s</a>, with about 40% of all <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/ethereum?dashboard=77">blobs posted to Ethereum</a> mainnet coming from Base right now.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1124" height="624" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=1024&amp;h=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-107037" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=1124 1124w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=428 428w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=470 470w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=389 389w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image-10.png?w=80 80w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1124px) 100vw, 1124px" /></figure>



However, to the outside world, DEXs, AMMs, launchpads and so on are not “apps” in the traditional sense. Which, when we’re discussing heady concepts like massive mainstream adoption and widespread tokenization, is about all that really matters.



To the general public, an app needs to serve a purpose other than financial speculation, else it’s just a gaming venue in the minds of many and no different than PokerStars or DraftKings. Think Uber, AirBnB, Spotify, MyFitnessPal, Instagram, TikTok and Tinder, more than Robinhood and Trade Republic.



This dichotomy is why even Polymarket transcending the culture chasm might not be particularly satisfying, at least in a holistic sense.&nbsp;



While there’s certainly room for prediction markets to serve as “truth oracles” in our inevitable hyperfinancialized, media-minimized future, for now Polymarket is just a venue for betting on stuff happening in the culture. Markets related to politics attract about <a href="https://app.blockworksresearch.com/analytics/polymarket?dashboard=53">one-third of all open interest</a> right now, followed by markets related to crypto prices (15%) and sports (12%).



Zora and Virtuals are indeed cool in their own ways. Helping creators to monetize their work and build fan bases with crypto is compelling, and has been for the better part of a decade, dating right back to Steemit. And perhaps AI agents will indeed be the eventual gateway for regular humans to interact with blockchain protocols — why not gain exposure to the most popular ones?



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">if someone tells you creator coins on <a href="https://twitter.com/zora?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@zora</a> are &quot;just a memecoin&quot; with no intrinsic value, they are either willfully misleading you or haven&#39;t taken 2 minutes to learn each post is a micromarket that drives value back to the creator coin &#8211; the more viral content, the more value&mdash; jesse.base.eth (@jessepollak) <a href="https://twitter.com/jessepollak/status/1959807771144257925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 25, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Underneath all the branding and presentation, however, Zora and Virtuals are still launchpads, and generously assuming that active addresses translate to active users apparently means there are only at most 20,000 or so people in crypto today willing to experiment with them (and slog through the often tricky EVM user experience, at least).



That’s with the indirect support of Coinbase, the closest thing crypto has to a majorly influential corporate powerhouse.



Maybe next cycle, there will be 50,000 willing participants. But I have a feeling the outside world won’t be convinced.&nbsp;



In the crypto space, tokenization for tokenization’s sake makes sense — everything that can be digitally represented is technically valuable. And depending on how broad your definition of value, intrinsically so.&nbsp;



The real question is thus: to whom, and for how long?



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Base

Crypto needs more than launchpads for mass adoption

Kate Irwin

This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-drop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Zora cofounder Jacob Horne <a href="https://x.com/js_horne/status/1959987899346153716">said</a> yesterday that “process changes” are happening internally as a result of a public <a href="https://x.com/crystaltaixyz/status/1959628118810890509">controversy</a> around a supposed “@TysonFury” Zora account being created to represent the British heavyweight boxer on the crypto social app.&nbsp;



Horne seemingly promoted the celebrity’s account in an X post (which, like all Zora accounts, has a coin tied to it). But both Horne’s post and the Zora account in question have since been deleted.



Artemis engineer Crystal Tai flagged the issue after reportedly seeing her Fury creator coin tokens and trade history disappear from her Zora wallet after the celebrity account was taken down.



Blockchain analyst ZachXBT said that the short-lived @TysonFury Zora account was a “celeb coin rug” brought forward by a trader known as “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYJAbrpwHVw">Sahil</a>.”



The analyst shared a screenshot showing a thread of emails from Sahil’s inbox around scheduling a meeting between Sahil and the Zora team, which Base’s Jesse Pollak <a href="https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1960002545172254770">said</a> was ultimately cancelled.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">i’m usually a big fan of <a href="https://twitter.com/zora?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@zora</a>, but this is not ok. &#8211; a “verified” <a href="https://twitter.com/Tyson_Fury?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Tyson_Fury</a> account launched on zora &#8211; tweeted by <a href="https://twitter.com/js_horne?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@js_horne</a> &#8211; then the zora account was deleted &#8211; jacob’s tweet deleted &#8211; the token + trade history wiped from my zora wallet there’s now no way to sell. sure, i… <a href="https://t.co/3BeWSjwMMm">pic.twitter.com/3BeWSjwMMm</a>&mdash; Crystal Tai (@crystaltaixyz) <a href="https://twitter.com/crystaltaixyz/status/1959628118810890509?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 24, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Sahil has been previously tied to celebrity coins and openly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_oLziAyN_o">advises</a> traders to “just rug and rug again.”&nbsp;



“Keep extracting and keep rugging,” Sahil said in a video clip shared by Coffeezilla as part of an exposé published in June called “I got this celebrity scammer to confess.”



Despite Sahil’s reputation, Pollak said he was “willing to hear him out.”



“Sahil reached out and said he was interested in onboarding people to Zora,” Pollak <a href="https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1960002545172254770">wrote</a>. “I told him he had a bad rap, bad actors aren’t tolerated on Base, and he’d need to demonstrate positive impact.”



But that didn’t last long.



“Less than an hour later Sahil revealed that he was in fact lying and a bad actor and Zora removed the profile,” Pollak <a href="https://x.com/jessepollak/status/1960002545172254770">continued</a>.



Horne appears to have jumped the gun on posting about the Fury account. It’s unclear to what extent Fury himself is aware of the account’s brief existence, and neither his Instagram nor X account have posted about the issue.



I’ve reached out to Fury’s reps for comment, but have not yet heard a response.



Horne noted that Zora has been facing “an increased rate of accounts connecting legitimate socials and then removing them quickly,” and <a href="https://x.com/js_horne/status/1959983968389869632">said</a> the team is “working on mitigating this issue generally” to prevent future incidents.



“Zora needs to better distinguish between verified and unverified accounts,” Delphi Digital research analyst Jordan Yeakley <a href="https://x.com/yeak__/status/1960033867395686736">observed</a> in a post about the incident.



Last night, Zora announced that it’s updating its app to hide coins that break rules, and is making it easier for holders to sell or transfer hidden coins.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Update: + Coins that break community guidelines are hidden on Zora + Hidden coins are now only visible in your wallet holdings with a warning + You can trade, sell, or transfer your hidden coins We are committed to making Zora the most trusted place to launch and trade creator… <a href="https://t.co/Ds0TDU1G8U">pic.twitter.com/Ds0TDU1G8U</a>&mdash; $zora (@zora) <a href="https://twitter.com/zora/status/1960172958389076131?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 26, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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More broadly, “creator coins” and “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zora-latest-content-coin-fad">content coins</a>” might sound like a fun purchase — until the account you bought from gets banned and your bags go to zero.



As an obvious reminder: Buying any micro-cap token like those on Zora is a big risk if your goal is to make a profit.&nbsp;



Zora’s content coin approach has led some artists to criticize it for offering little more than “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zora-app-accounts-debate">memetic speculation</a>,” while fans of the platform see it as a new creative outlet and a natural next step for the future of social crypto tools.



For what it’s worth, Fury himself posted a video on Instagram of himself jogging outdoors on Monday, encouraging his 6.7 million followers to, as they say in crypto, go out and touch grass.



“You’ll feel much better,” the boxer said.



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The Drop newsletter

Zora updates app after ‘Tyson Fury’ account sparks rugpull concerns

This is a segment from The Drop newsletter. To read full editions, <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/the-drop" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">subscribe</a>.



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Since the Zora app launched in September last year, it’s seen some adoption, with over 127,000 downloads on iOS and more than 50,000 downloads on Android, according to data from Appfigures and Google.



Out of those, nearly 18,000 Zora accounts are posting daily, Blockworks Research data shows. And 36% of daily posting Zora accounts are actually doing so not from Zora itself, but from the Base app.



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXca2U_cdFXr4c7adzIPpiEYkTe1kFSr717AD8zRa-RjuL5s8uSdx41I3z_Y-hlAYqlXN-thwuO_D0RqT4P6RQnxPPR0DogZbfTF1WS8BNn3iDD1xXp5l2hzEevyHiJvF_II7WeREA?key=3HoGeV0_RBk32QwQrWRvSA" alt="" style="width:692px;height:auto"/></figure>



When the Coinbase Wallet app rebranded to just “Base” last month and integrated Zora for some users, that sparked a surge in Zora use through the Base app itself (Zora can also be accessed and used via a web browser).&nbsp;



Yesterday, Base engineer Youssef El Allali <a href="https://x.com/0xyoussea/status/1955424838379770241">shared</a> an AI agent tool that lets Base app users trade small amounts of Zora creators’ tokens by mentioning a Zora account’s handle, which could further speed up trading and further abstract it away from the mobile app itself.



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXcqERkbYEtBqoya0ACzQwuu6fKsPpckfK9ZaJuYDFJ7UR0TmeXnYbK-PMlzE4uQLHSWYPtfUqnAYCQqtiVyqaCXXoA_5j6vBmILrS9kgsj7aPeFstwECGoe1RfMsHP6iCMSqeWu?key=3HoGeV0_RBk32QwQrWRvSA" alt="" style="width:694px;height:auto"/></figure>



When you join Zora, a creator token is automatically generated and associated with you, and other users can effectively “trade” you. There isn’t really an obvious reason to buy someone else’s token, though, other than to financially support them or potentially flip their token to make a quick buck.



And while some crypto traders may have written off Zora as a <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/zora-latest-content-coin-fad">short-lived fad</a> like Friendtech or StarsArena, Zora has something those don’t — backing from Coinbase.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Introducing&#8230; Zora Coins Agent 🤖 An AI agent that uses Base Account Spend Permissions, <a href="https://twitter.com/CoinbaseDev?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoinbaseDev</a> server wallets and <a href="https://twitter.com/zoradevs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@zoradevs</a> SDK to buy you any creator coin you want Just give it the handle and it will do the rest, no clicks, no pop-ups, all managed by spend permissions <a href="https://t.co/Y1U37EQKCY">pic.twitter.com/Y1U37EQKCY</a>&mdash; Youssef (@0xyoussea) <a href="https://twitter.com/0xyoussea/status/1955424838379770241?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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So far, some of the Zora creator tokens’ market caps are surprising. As of Wednesday morning, about 20 Zora content creators, including ex-Coinbase employee turned Zora cofounder Jacob Horne, have creator account market caps of $1 million or more each.&nbsp;



45 creators have “market caps” of over half a million dollars each.&nbsp;



The top 10 accounts on Zora by market cap include a porn account, an AI art account, a crypto trading influencer, and some meme accounts, to name a few. Overall, it doesn’t look like art is dominating Zora’s financial landscape.&nbsp;



Some Zora accounts are personal and tied to individuals, while others are more anonymous or appear to represent a company or group.



But is it a good idea to assign “value” to people — or their personal posts or pieces of content — in such a rapidfire, mercurial way?&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXehA1FjdF89Pc_GR6KhC7fvETj3ssKt9FiU_9fscip9vVSFZDZgEeH2rr5Te7aVFckbJfcRhbEU0KTnZpmlkBd4btjOhxYFYklJpBp4vdJRdZSxg2LhlqkuTybcJdVrxw4qSLGi?key=3HoGeV0_RBk32QwQrWRvSA" alt="" style="width:674px;height:auto"/></figure>



Some artists and founders aren’t so sure about Zora.&nbsp;



This week, Coinbase’s Base lead and unofficial Zora hype-man Jesse Pollak wrote: “Help I keep putting money into @zora and supporting creators and collecting content but my balance keeps going UP?!?!?”



“It doesn’t always go up,” electronic music artist and Royal founder Justin Blau <a href="https://x.com/justinblau/status/1955067797555315069">replied</a>. “The narrative is beginning to feel irresponsible. I don’t wanna wait another 4 years to convince creatives that crypto has more uses for them than memetic speculation.



“There is nothing wrong with speculation, just call it what it is. This disguising narrative is dangerous,” Blau continued.&nbsp;



Pollak hit back: “I didn&#8217;t promise up only. I described my experience that is very real. I&#8217;m also more optimistic than you about the combination of infinite creativity and a better creator economy.”



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">I funded my Zora account and base app account with $100 (separately) supported a bunch of creators and posted original content over the past few weeks. Here’s my updated liquid balances: Zora: $0.29 base app: $1.35&mdash; foundnone.eth (@transmental) <a href="https://twitter.com/transmental/status/1953571741902811622?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2025</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



Some other artists, like visual artist ThankYouX, aren’t sold on the Zora idea, either (ThankYouX has released his work as NFTs and integrated blockchain tech into his work since 2020).



“It just adds a purely speculative element which isn’t what art is about,” ThankYouX <a href="https://x.com/ThankYouX/status/1955074694669123659">wrote</a> of Zora. “And the Zora team is very irresponsible with how they’ve handled things by launching automatically for artist[s] and hyping the speculation element too much.”



Notably, Vitalik Buterin tried Zora recently — and argued, among other things, that requiring users to input email addresses (and the affiliated smart wallets tied to them) could contribute to user segregation on Ethereum.



“You want compatibility for existing ethereum uses, no?” he <a href="https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/1954987470896107592">asked</a> Horne in a post. “Otherwise you&#8217;re creating two incompatible ecosystems, one for ‘real ethereum users’ [and] one for ‘mainstream people’; I actually think this is one of the biggest risks in ethereum UX right now.”



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