Author: Fairy, ChainCatcher
Original Title: Solana and Base Founders Engage in Heated Debate: Does Content on Zora Have "Basic Value"?
Two blockchain founders face off directly, with Crypto Twitter filled with tension.
An intense debate around "creator tokens" has ignited the crypto community. Base and Solana blockchain founders rarely personally engaged, confronting each other directly regarding the ZORA and Pump.fun platforms.
What sparked this confrontation? Let's start from the beginning.
Controversy Trigger: Sterling Crispin's Questioning
This crypto "verbal battle" was sparked by Del Complex researcher Sterling Crispin's public questioning of Zora.
Zora is a social network platform on the Base ecosystem that tokenizes user profiles and posts, aiming to help creators directly monetize their content.
However, in Sterling's view, Zora is merely old wine in a new bottle. He bluntly stated that most tokens issued on automated market makers (AMM) with extremely low liquidity and exponential price curves are still "repackaged shit coins".
In his debate with community users, he used Pump.fun as an example: "The median result of ERC20 tokens on Pump.fun is not just underperforming the market, but directly going to zero."
Facing these powerful criticisms, Base founder Jesse Pollak quickly went into defense mode. He stated on X platform: "I think you're wrong. Content has value, creators have value." He further emphasized, "Viewing assets issued on Pump.fun and Zora as equivalent is a logical fallacy. Not all tokens are the same, fundamentals are important."
However, Jesse's statement quickly stimulated another big shot's emotions - Solana founder toly.
Solana Founder Intervenes Instantly, Escalating the Conflict
Solana founder toly quickly joined this debate, retweeting Jesse's post and sarcastically saying: "lol wut? Do any tokens on Zora have equity from the creator's future cash flow?"
(Note: "lol wut" is an internet slang with a slightly disdainful or deliberately confused tone, often used to express disagreement or finding something absurd.)
The battle between the two founders then officially began:
First Round: Does content have "basic value"?
Jesse firmly stated: Content itself has basic value.
toly challenged: How to prove it has basic value? Do token holders have the right to share future advertising revenue?
Jesse responded: Advertising is just one monetization method. Like a painting, it has value even if no one pays for tickets.
toly continued attacking: By this logic, is it good for creators to sell Zora tokens for retail investors? Because retail can buy below the content's basic value?
Jesse tried to explain: Tokens on Zora have many types, but they share one common point: they are a repeated, infinite game where participants' behaviors affect the entire system's operation.
Second Round: Deadlock, Neither Backing Down
toly was unconvinced, coldly mocking: Sounds like their "basic value" is zero.
Jesse stood his ground: If you want to believe content's value is zero, suit yourself. But I believe content itself is very valuable, and we can establish new systems to return this value to hundreds of millions of creators.
toly delivered his final blow: Go convince token holders, get Coinbase to buy those near-zero Zora tokens because they're "below content's basic value".
This conversation was like schoolchildren arguing, neither conceding, ultimately ending with Jesse's brief "OK".
Interestingly, toly himself has been enthusiastically promoting Solana ecosystem meme coins in recent years, but to enhance his persuasiveness, he added: "I've been saying for years that meme coins and Non-Fungible Tokens are digital garbage with no intrinsic value. Like in-game items in mobile games, where people spend $150 billion annually."
Zora's "Pump Show"
The focus of this "verbal battle", Zora project, not only has Base founder Jesse Pollak's endorsement, but the $ZORA token has also surged 883% in the past month. This rally was driven by both the positive news of Base App integrating content tokenization features and Binance listing ZORA/USDT perpetual contracts.
Yesterday, Zora platform had 21,478 creators, including 12,292 new creators, with 50,475 tokens issued, all hitting historical highs.
However, on-chain data offers another interpretation. According to on-chain analyst AI Aunt, in spot trading, Coinbase is the platform with the largest token trading volume, with a 24-hour trading volume of $82.6 million; in contracts, Binance's 24-hour trading volume reached $1.354 billion, 16.4 times the spot volume.
She suggested that ZORA seems to have created an independent altcoin trend, but on-chain data recently doesn't even show a single transaction over $500,000, suggesting funds might be manipulated in centralized exchanges.
Image source: AI Aunt
The fierce confrontation between Jesse and toly not only reveals profound differences in the crypto world about the nature of "creator tokens" but also reflects the complex competition and ideological collision between blockchain camps.
This debate has no winner, just like the world's ongoing battle over value definition, always intensely wrestling between ideals and reality, belief and doubt.
