Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong helped onboard Nick Shirley, the journalist covering the Minnesota Daycare Fraud scheme

Coinbase Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong just helped onboard viral grassroots journalist Nick Shirley to Coinbase‑led Ethereum Layer 2 Base.

Last week, Shirley uncovered a multimillion‑dollar daycare fraud in videos that have gone viral, amassing more than 100 million impressions.

Shirley created and launched his verified creator coin on Base on Dec. 28, dubbed $thenickshirley, and Armstrong shared the new launch on X, saying, “Let’s go – good case study in how content monetizes better on Base vs other platforms. More examples coming soon.”

Shirley himself responded to Armstrong, calling Base and Zora “epic.”

Considering the surprise activation and subsequent publicity created by Armstrong’s post, $thenickshirley exploded off its launch, immediately rallying to as high as $9 million in market capitalization, which is notable in today’s poor on‑chain conditions.

However, the state of the market caught up with $thenickshirley holders today, and the token is down 66 % from yesterday’s top to a $3 million market capitalization. While intense volatility is normal on small‑cap on‑chain tokens—especially when snipers hold significant amounts of supply—the token’s performance is indicative of how little demand there is for on‑chain trading in December 2025.

Image: $thenickshirley chart (DexScreener)

Despite the token’s underwhelming second day on the market, $thenickshirley boasts the highest on‑chain volume for any token other than ETH and CBTC on Base today, with $7.9 million in trading volume, surpassing leading Base tokens such as AERO and ZORA.

Shirley has become a mainstream‑media sensation over the last week after documenting and videotaping his ongoing investigation into a daycare‑fraud scheme in Minnesota. His content has been a major talking point on every mainstream news outlet since he released it, and his top video on X has garnered more than 118 million impressions in just three days.