Bald memecoin whipsaws in wild trading session as developer pulls liquidity

by Frank Chaparro and Vishal Chawla

Layer 2s and Scaling • July 31, 2023, 9:16AM EDT

Published 2 minutes earlier on

UPDATED: July 31, 2023, 12:37PM EDT

The Block

Quick Take

BALD whipsawed during Monday’s trading session.

Memecoin trading is not for the faint of heart.

Bald, a popular memecoin, whipsawed during Monday's trading session — falling as much as 90% before paring losses. At the time of writing, the coin was trading up more than 82% over the last five minutes. It is down 49% over the last hour, however.

The developer behind the Bald memecoin removed 6,800 ETH ($12.5 million) from the token's liquidity pool on LeetSwap, a decentralized exchange on the Base Layer 2 network, on-chain data shows. This move triggered a liquidity crunch, causing the price to drop from $0.09 to $0.01 before rebounding to $0.04.

Memecoin traders flocked to Coinbase's Layer 2 Base, which launched its mainnet for developers on July 13. It wasn’t slated for public launch until early August. However, over the last few days, it has experienced a significant spike in activity and the introduction of several memecoins.

The Layer 2 recorded over 276,000 transactions yesterday, with memecoins like Bald skyrocketing on the network. Bald previously surged more than 20,000-fold in just 24 hours. Its market capitalization approached $90 million earlier today, as per data from DEX Screener.

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24-hour volumes on the Layer 2 currently sit at $243.3 million, according to Dex Screener. Over the last day, the blockchain has processed over 600,000 transactions.

Bald trading volumes have exceeded $95 million across decentralized exchanges on the Base platform, including exchanges like LeetSwap and RocketSwap. This represents 40% of Base’s daily volume.

About Authors

Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].

Vishal Chawla is The Block’s crypto ecosystems editor and has spent over six years covering tech protocols, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and cloud computing. Vishal likes to delve deep into blockchain intricacies to ensure readers are well-informed about the continuously evolving crypto landscape. He is also a staunch advocate for rigorous security practices in the space. Before joining The Block, Vishal held positions at IDG ComputerWorld, CIO, and Crypto Briefing. He can be reached on Twitter at @vishal4c and via email at [email protected]