Unintentional Token Created by Blockchain Investigator ZachXBT Reaches $15M Market Cap

A token unintentionally created by blockchain investigator ZachXBT on the Base network, has reached a $15 million market cap after being automatically converted into a tradable asset.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has inadvertently created a token on the Base network that has quickly reached a market cap of $15 million. The token, which was automatically converted into a tradable asset, was initially intended to be a free NFT documenting ZachXBT's investigation into a $243 million theft involving a Genesis creditor.

However, due to an oversight in the Zora protocol, through which the token was issued in August, these NFTs were automatically converted into ERC-20 tokens, making them tradable on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap.

"The Zora UI currently does not give any indication to creators that an ERC-20 token will also be launched at the conclusion of an open edition NFT mint," ZachXBT explained in a follow-up Twitter thread, where he shared screenshots to demonstrate the lack of clarity in the interface.

The protocol created around 3,500 tokens on Base via its ERC20z standard, which enables NFTs to be wrapped into ERC-20 tokens or unwrapped back to ERC-1155 tokens. This functionality allows trading via Uniswap, much like other token creation platforms.

The value of the token surged from nearly zero to $4,300 per token, reaching a market cap of $15 million, as reported by DEX Screener at the time. However, the market cap has since dropped to $4 million, according to the latest data from DEX Screener.

ZachXBT expressed dissatisfaction with the speculative trading, stating,

"If people continue tagging me on posts, I am going to dilute the piece with more mints that do not have an end date and possibly take other actions like replacing artwork off Zora with a blank image."

The investigator went on to explain that his initial goal was simply to archive his investigative content permanently on the blockchain, much like his previous articles that were hosted on Mirror.