Gogol’s Ghost Roasts Base: Pollak’s Price Purity Pageant

Ah, the grand theater of Base, where Jesse Pollak, that noble knight of transparency, doth proclaim with a flourish: “No, good sirs and madams, we shall not sully our hands with the base art of token price manipulation!” And lo, the crowd gasps, for in this land of crypto, where shadows dance and wallets weep, such honesty is a rarity indeed.

Pollak, with a wave of his quill, declares that using Base funds to inflate token prices would be as unlawful as a nose-picking bureaucrat caught in the act-and would shatter market trust like a poorly crafted clay pot.
He champions fair incentives, as transparent as a ghost’s sheet, but scorns covert price support, which he deems the work of mischievous imps.
The debate, oh dear reader, mirrors the wider farce of meme markets, where pump-and-dump schemes flourish like weeds in a neglected garden, crying out for stricter standards.

Jesse Pollak, the mastermind behind the Coinbase-backed Layer 2 network Base (BASE), hath taken to the digital pulpit to denounce the very idea of meddling with token prices. “Illegal!” he cries, his voice echoing through the halls of crypto. “It would undermine the sacred integrity of the market!” And thus, he stands, a beacon of virtue in a sea of schemers.

⚡️UPDATE: Jesse Pollak, Co-founder of Base, proclaims with a dramatic flourish that the Base core team shall not “support charts” behind the scenes, upholding a neutral, fair ecosystem stance.

– The Crypto Times (@CryptoTimes_io) January 27, 2026

In a post on X, Pollak, with the gravity of a Shakespearean actor, declares that the Base core team shall not “support the chart behind the scenes.” This, dear reader, is in response to the plebians who have urged the network to use its treasure to elevate specific tokens, as if they were lifting a noble’s carriage out of the mud.

Pollak, with the wisdom of a Gogol character, explains that privately coordinating funds to manipulate prices would disadvantage other tokens, betray trust, violate Base’s commitment to free markets, and likely break the law. “A recipe for disaster,” he quips, “and a sure way to summon the regulators’ wrath.”

The creator, ever the idealist, adds that while the team will continue to polish its methods for promoting applications and assets on Base, price discovery must remain as organic as a peasant’s cabbage patch-transparent and untainted by deceit.

These words come amidst the wails of frustrated traders, who lament that Base lacks a breakout token to capture the fickle hearts of speculators. A popular livestream host, with the drama of a tragedian, declares that Base has not the mettle to push a project into the hundreds of millions in market capitalization, suggesting a shift to other chains. Oh, the folly of it all!

Yet, other users, with the sarcasm of a Gogol narrator, retort that this issue is not unique to Base but is a plague upon all cryptocurrency markets, where meme-driven speculation is as fleeting as a summer breeze.

Pollak’s stance finds favor with some, while others grumble that Base has missed its chance to rally around certain tokens, citing examples of projects they believe could have been crowned as flagship assets. Ah, the eternal discontent of the crypto masses!

Pollak, ever the philosopher, acknowledges their frustrations but warns that manipulation is but a path to recurring losses, while fair markets allow participants to learn, adapt, and prosper. “In the long term,” he muses, “honesty is the best policy, even if it lacks the flair of a pump-and-dump scheme.”

The executive draws a line between promotion and manipulation, declaring that secret coordination to inflate prices is as incompatible with Base’s role as open infrastructure as a clown at a funeral. And let us not forget Coinbase’s obligations as a U.S.-regulated public company, which, he assures us, are as binding as a Gogol character’s absurd fate.

The debate also resurrects scrutiny of past incidents that have shaped perceptions of Base’s role in meme token markets. In 2025, Base faced criticism after its official account posted “Base is for everyone,” followed by a tokenized version of the post minted on Zora. Though Base claimed it was but a creative experiment, the episode fueled accusations of implicit endorsement and calls for regulatory scrutiny. Oh, the tangled web they weave!

Pump-and-dump activity, that persistent blight, has been a thorn in Base’s side, where low transaction costs and fast execution have made it a playground for bad actors. Research during peak meme token periods revealed that a significant share of newly launched Base tokens were as flawed as a Gogol protagonist’s reasoning, featuring honeypot contracts and unlocked liquidity. These dynamics have led to hefty losses for retail traders and renewed demands for clearer standards.

Pollak’s statements, it seems, are an attempt to distance Base from such practices while leaving room for structured, transparent incentives. In replies to users, he suggests that open systems like competitions or clearly defined liquidity programs could be explored, provided they are implemented with the fairness of a Gogol satire.

2026-01-27 13:02

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