Updated on:12/06/2025 05:22 PM 
The cryptocurrency market witnessed an extraordinary event recently as an unknown meme token named BALD experienced an unprecedented surge on Coinbase's innovative Base layer-2 solution, capturing the attention of investors worldwide.
On July 30th, BALD, a previously obscure digital asset with minimal online presence, skyrocketed in value by an astonishing 10,000% on the decentralized Leetswap exchange. This dramatic increase propelled the token's price to approximately $0.085, resulting in a market capitalization exceeding $85 million, as tracked by Dexscreener data. During this remarkable rally, the token's trading volume surpassed $100 million, indicating significant market interest.
Community speculation quickly emerged regarding potential connections between BALD and Coinbase personnel. Social media discussions highlighted that the token's deployer maintained substantial holdings of Coinbase's liquid Ethereum token, cbETH, fueling rumors of insider involvement in the token's meteoric rise.
Blockchain analytics revealed a sharp decline of over 80% in BALD's value following the removal of millions in liquidity by its deployer, triggering widespread concerns about a potential rug pull—a scenario where developers abandon a project after extracting value from investors.
In response to mounting criticism, the project's representative addressed concerns via the official Twitter account, asserting that no tokens had been sold since launch and that the transactions were conducted to establish two-sided liquidity for the token.
However, blockchain investigator The Data Nerd contested these claims, reporting that the deployer had withdrawn 7,000 ETH and 142 million BALD tokens valued at $13 million. Notably, the deployer's wallet continues to hold 12,000 ETH, currently worth approximately $23 million.
The most extraordinary gains were achieved by early market participants. One particularly successful investor transformed an initial $500 investment into an impressive $1.5 million profit. According to a July 29th tweet by Cheatcoiner, this individual acquired 2% of the total supply when the asset's market capitalization remained below $50,000.
Additional analysis by Lookonchain identified four addresses that collectively invested approximately $1,000 to purchase 5% of BALD's total 50 million token supply. These early positions generated $1 million in profits within a single day following the token's value explosion. Notably, these purchases were executed just four minutes after trading commenced, leading to speculation that these might have been insider transactions.
Another particularly profitable wallet identified as "0xC57E" generated returns exceeding 400 ETH, equivalent to more than $800,000, within a 24-hour period. Lookonchain's data indicated this address acquired BALD tokens with 65 ETH on July 30th and subsequently sold the position for 482 ETH.
Despite these substantial profits, questions remain regarding the exit strategy for these investors, as the Base Network lacked a functional mainnet bridge for transferring funds back to Ethereum at the time of these transactions.
This BALD token phenomenon provides valuable insights into the current state of market liquidity across various blockchain networks. The extraordinary activity on Base Network demonstrates the growing adoption and importance of Coinbase's layer-2 solution in the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem.
