According to GMGN market data, the market cap of BRIAN, a meme coin on Base, fell more than 80% in a short period after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong changed his profile picture on X again. The token was last quoted at $1.2 million in market cap. Odaily noted that meme coins tend to show sharp price swings, are often driven by market sentiment and trending events, and generally lack support from real underlying value. The outlet warned investors to stay alert to the risks tied to this type of asset. This move was reported as a rapid market reaction tied to a public social media change by a high-profile industry figure.

Base is reworking its strategy after publicly acknowledging that its social and creator-token experiment did not deliver the growth it expected. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on July 13 that the effort had failed, while Base creator Jesse Pollak later laid out a new focus for the network: trading, payments and AI. Pollak said Base spent the past two years betting that onchain social products such as Farcaster, Zora and Miniapps could drive mass adoption, only to see that thesis break down as social tokens sold off and products tied to prediction markets, perpetuals and stablecoins gained traction in the first quarter of 2026. The shift comes as Robinhood Chain is expanding quickly in the Layer2 market. Token Terminal data cited in the report showed Robinhood Chain moved ahead of Base in daily active addresses and daily transactions shortly after mainnet launch, while DeFiLlama data showed its DEX daily volume has exceeded Base for several trading days. At the same time, Base is also trying to lean harder into community culture. Brian Armstrong changed his X avatar to a Base community-created superhero image, and Cobie is taking over product development for Base App as the company looks to strengthen its position in trading products and meme-driven user activity.

Base-based meme coin BRIAN briefly pushed its market capitalization above $18 million before pulling back to about $15 million, according to GMGN market data cited by ChainCatcher. The token’s short-term gain exceeded 27x. The report said the move may have been linked to a change in the X profile picture of Coinbase’s CEO. It also warned that meme coins can swing sharply in price and are often driven by market sentiment and trending events, making risk management critical for traders.