Coinbase Blockchain Launch Sends Unrelated BASE Token Surging 200%, Leaves Traders Confused

Coinbase Global Inc. COIN on Thursday launched its new blockchain, Base, and a few new crypto tokens that play on the name have suddenly spiked, even though they have no connection to the new network.  

What Happened: BASE, a token of the decentralized project Base Protocol that has nothing to do with Coinbase, saw its price increase by more than 200%, according to crypto price tracker CoinGecko. The rally has now cooled down, at the time of writing, BASE was trading at $2.10, up 20% in the last 24 hours.

According to Token Sniffer, a data site by crypto surveillance firm Solidus Labs, since Coinbase's testnet launch on BuildOnBase, four malicious impersonation tokens exploiting the hype surrounding the Layer 2 network have been created. All the scam tokens are identified by the BASE symbol and are built on the Ethereum ETH/USD  and Fantom chain FTM/USD. 

SCAM ALERT: Since @coinbase's testnet launch of @BuildOnBase, four impersonation tokens have been created to capitalize on the hype surrounding the Layer 2 network.

The tokens' details: pic.twitter.com/LnQJfMCoZw

— TokenSniffer.com (@Token_Sniffer) February 23, 2023

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It should be noted that Coinbase in a blog post said that it has no plans whatsoever to issue any new tokens.

“About these scam types. Honeypot scammers program their tokens’ smart contracts to prevent buyers from reselling them. Impersonation scammers imitate the branding of established organizations – many of which don’t have their own token – to steal from unaware investors,” Token Sniffer tweeted.

Earlier this month, fake crypto tokens associated with artificial intelligence spiked, following the hype surrounding OpenAI's ChatGPT. 

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