ZachXBT’s NFT accidentally becomes a $15 million meme coin on Base

Intended as a free collectible for a $243M theft investigation, ZachXBT’s NFT on Base has become a $15M memecoin due to Zora’s automated setup.

Author: ZachXBT

Key Takeaways

• ZachXBT's NFT investigation document was unintentionally converted into a $15 million meme coin on the Base network.
• The Zora protocol's lack of interface clarity regarding ERC-20 token creation led to the meme coin's emergence.

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A token unintentionally created by blockchain investigator ZachXBT on the Base network, has reached a $15 million market cap after being automatically converted into a tradable asset.

The token, issued through the Zora protocol in August, was meant to archive ZachXBT’s investigation of a $243 million theft involving a Genesis creditor as free NFTs documenting the investigation.

However, unknown to ZachXBT, Zora’s UI automatically converted these NFTs into ERC-20 tokens, making them tradable on DEXs like Uniswap.

“The Zora UI currently does not give any indication to creators that an ERC-20 token will also be launched at the conclusion of an open edition NFT mint,” ZachXBT stated, providing screenshots demonstrating the interface’s lack of clarity.

The protocol created approximately 3,500 tokens on Base through its ERC20z standard, which enables NFTs to be wrapped into ERC-20 tokens or unwrapped back to ERC-1155 tokens.

This functionality allows trading via Uniswap, similar to other token creation platforms.

The token’s value surged from nearly zero to $4,300 per token, reaching a market cap of $15 million, but it has since plunged to a $4 million market cap at the time of writing, according to DEX Screener data.

243M Theft/WETH token chart (TradingView)

ZachXBT expressed displeasure with the speculative trading, stating,

“If people continue tagging me on posts, I am going to dilute the piece with more mints that do not have an end date and possibly take other actions like replacing artwork off Zora with a blank image.”

The investigator clarified that his original intention was simply to archive investigative content permanently on the blockchain, similar to his previous articles hosted on Mirror.

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