Zora hits a new high, is it really substantial content or is Coinbase making a strong push?

Written by: BUBBLE, Rhythm

$ZORA surged nearly 10 times over a consecutive 20 days, reaching a historical high on August 12, with a 24-hour increase approaching 50%, and a circulating market cap nearing 480 million USD. This may be due to the listing of perpetual contracts on Binance or the combined effects of increased user momentum and trading volume following the integration of the Base App. The strong rally and Coinbase's proactive efforts even led some community members to jokingly refer to it as having been "officially incorporated" as an official token.

But regardless of how the driving factors are dissected, this round of increases, coupled with the previous debate between the founders of Base and Solana on this issue, has once again brought the focus on "content/creator coins" to the forefront. What exactly has it done? What opportunities can we find in its ecosystem?

Is Zora's rise driven by "content" or by institutional push?

Zora's new paradigm is that every creator has 1 Creator Coin (total supply of 1 billion, with 50% linearly allocated to creators over five years); at the same time, each post is also a "content coin," with its pool paired with the creator coin and then with $ZORA. To reduce the friction of the three-stage exchange from "USDC to content coin," Zora has introduced solutions like 0x aggregation on the routing side, enhancing the efficiency of liquidity access from fiat entry to content assets. Creators take a 1% fee from each transaction, establishing a direct incentive for continuous creation.

The benefit of this model is that, compared to launch platforms like Pumpfun, which require careful planning to create a situation and then draw out some wealth-effect tokens to attract "attention." In contrast, Zora does it differently; their strategy is to "first increase the quantity," making the issuance of tokens on Zora seem less "burdensome." They issue tokens simultaneously with posts, and since each "post/token" is paired with the creator's token, the "value of the content" gradually increases under the overall account. This has allowed the number of tokens issued by Zora to reach over 2 million in a short period, and its trading pairs with Zora have led to an explosive increase in Zora's adoption rate.

The chart shows that the adoption of Zora is positively correlated with its price increase, source: Messari.

Pumpfun currently has issued about 12 million tokens, with an additional daily issuance of around 20,000 to 30,000 tokens. Zora, on the other hand, has issued 2 million tokens, with an additional daily issuance of about 35,000 to 55,000 tokens. Pumpfun's DAU remains above 100,000, while Zora currently has only 35,000 creators (with a DAU of 10,000 to 20,000). The ratio of tokens produced per individual user differs by a factor of ten between the two. Although this is not comprehensive, it indicates that in terms of token quantity alone, each additional user on Zora generates an internet effect that is 10 times greater than that of Pumpfun.

In the past month, with the release of the new Base App, it has gradually connected Zora, Farcaster, and Noice. Zora is responsible for "turning content into tradable assets" (Creator Coin / Post Coin), while Noice handles "social distribution and tipping" (USDC/ multi-currency tips, direct payments within the timeline). The two create a closed loop of "creation - distribution - monetization" within the same user interface of Base.

After the Base App integrated Zora, creators can mint, trade, and receive payments without switching platforms; Noice announced on July 27 that it has integrated Zora, providing a lightweight monetization mechanism of "one like, one reward." The combined effect compresses the originally scattered links of "posting / wallet / DEX / tipping tools" into a single entry point, improving conversion rates and retention.

On one hand, there is an increase in dissemination channels, and on the other hand, the creator system is being perfected. Additionally, Zora and Base officials are actively recruiting artists and content creators from outside the circle to join the platform. SamandColby's Chief Operating Officer, Kong Pham, revealed that some Web2 content creators with a large fan base are about to flock to Zora and Farcaster.

A series of actions has significantly increased Zora's MindShare on social media (1456%), and in this era where "attention" equals "opportunity," Zora seems to have found a growth method beyond just "pumping," which is making money at no cost (as evidenced by the overwhelming tweets on X where creators in the Base system earn money by posting).

In addition, Zora's influence distribution channels are also very diverse. Currently, multiple platforms have integrated Zora's content token dashboards or indicators, including the indicators launched by indexy (the top 20 influence tokens / creators on Zora), Zaracle, Matcha, Zora Terminal, TBD, and others that have launched token dashboards. The founder of Loudio, Slayed, also claims to establish an index fund for Zora and create a DAO to increase dissemination channels for co-creators.

What tokens are there in the ecosystem?

zxbt

This is the "Autonomous AI Artist" project created by former Wall Street high-frequency trader and AI Builder dev0xx, which generates an original piece of art every day and automatically mints the corresponding content coin and NFT, without the need for human intervention. The key is in the process and ideas behind its creation, which are distributed daily along with the final work. A recent interesting update is that Jake "@immutablejacob", a researcher at Messari, tweeted suggestions for the artistic style direction of the next piece, sharing a painting in the style of Van Gogh. The AI creator dex0xx stated, "ZXBT was initially very stubborn, but as the community demanded more diversity, it continuously evolved. In this article, @zxbt_agent directly tagged a user in the description to share with us who influenced his art. In my opinion, the influence on the style of each work should be allocated based on the influencer's impact."

This also means that each token/work it issues can be disseminated through the "recommendations or promotions" of more influential people, with the researchers from Messrai being one example. And zxbt itself can drive its artistic works through more influential aesthetics, and all the processes of transformation can be seen on the official website and platform.

zxbt reached a maximum market value of 18 million USD, current market value is 13.8 million USD, trading volume in the last 24 hours is 290,000 USD, and there are 1,400 holders.

FakeTaxi

The well-established adult content brand FakeTaxi, founded by Jonathan Todd and Lew Thomas in 2013, has launched its first Creator Coin $FakeTaxi. The official statement indicates plans to migrate exclusive content to the Zora platform, replacing traditional social media platforms. By holding a specific Zora NFT and burning a certain number of tokens, users can gain benefits such as voice greetings from actors, custom selfies, exclusive behind-the-scenes videos, and even signed physical items. $FakeTaxi aims to create a sustainable consumption scenario through its token, forming a natural deflationary drive to build a new interactive experiment that deeply integrates adult entertainment with the Web3 fan economy.

Theoretically, this is not the first "cooperation" between the two fields, but some community members believe that the successful business logic of Onlyfans could serve as a cautionary tale for content platforms like Zora. This logic of cooperation also seems to provide a "template" for other related field projects or creators to enter Zora.

Faketaxi has a maximum market value of 12.5 million USD, a current market value of 7.36 million USD, a trading volume of 148,300 USD in the last 24 hours, and has 1,184 holders.

Visualize Value

Visualize Value is a content and education platform operated by Jack Butcher, the founder of the well-known art NFT projects Opepen and Checks VV. Essentially, it serves as a platform for the dissemination of his artistic thinking, teaching people how to communicate ideas using graphic language through minimalistic yet insightful graphics and text. It is used to elaborate on abstract concepts such as mental models, philosophical ideas, and efficiency tools.

Visualize Value reached a maximum market value of 16 million USD, current market value is 5.03 million USD, trading volume in the last 24 hours is 30,000 USD, and there are 2,073 holders.

11AM

It is a live show driven by Seed Club, hosted by @thattallguy and @joshcrnls. The name "11AM" refers to the show's start time, which is at 11 AM ET, Monday to Friday. The program emphasizes "Early to narratives. Earlier to founders. Front‑run the future," indicating their eagerness to engage with new creators and concepts before trends form. The show often invites industry experts, founders, and developers to discuss the latest developments in Web3 and the creator economy, covering topics such as the Web3 creator economy, memecoins, creator coins, decentralized social networks, and on-chain communities.

At 11 AM, the market cap reached $2.2 million, with a current market cap of $1.83 million, but the on-chain liquidity is low, with only 317 holders.

Zora's recent surge, whether driven by capital or product, reflects the same trend: content is becoming the core entry point for on-chain liquidity. From Zora's initiation to creator tokens and the tokens created by creators, the interconnected "layered structure," along with the integrated circulation credentials of creation, distribution, and monetization, has changed Zora's valuation and narrative in the market.

From the algorithmic aesthetics of zxbt, to the adult entertainment experiment of FakeTaxi, and then to the social content expansion of Visualize Value and 11AM, these projects are not only a microcosm of the Zora ecosystem but also a possible future blueprint for the Web3 content economy. The next thing to be amplified may not be the market of a single token, but rather the comprehensive explosion of the entire creator economy on-chain.