Base has launched a Creator Grant Program offering independent creators up to $4,000 to produce content about the Ethereum layer 2 network, its ecosystem and builders.

Base said in a Sept. 2 post on X that applications are open to writers, streamers, live show hosts, independent video creators and educators producing Base-related content.

Introducing the Creator Grant Program

We’re backing independent creators with up to $4,000 to make great content about Base, our ecosystem, and builders

Advertisement

Learn more ↓ pic.twitter.com/hWtONWvaoF

— Base (@base) September 2, 2026

Base Creator Grant Program offers up to $4,000

Writers producing deep dives, memes, analysis and social media threads are eligible for the program. Base is accepting applications from creators running recurring shows, while educators can apply for grants to produce Base content in their own languages.

Selected creators can receive grants of up to $4,000. Base did not specify whether every successful applicant would receive the maximum amount or disclose how individual grant sizes will be determined.

The program comes with support outside the main grant, with Base offering creators access to a pipeline of builders they can feature in their work. Content produced by participants may receive coverage through the network’s regional accounts.

Emerging creators can qualify for separate “Creator of the Week” bounties worth up to $500. Base specifically encouraged independent creators, people running their own shows and those creating exclusively around the network to apply.

Details including the total funding allocated to the program, the number of creators Base plans to select and how long the initiative will run were not disclosed in the announcement.

Base returns to creator funding after social strategy reset

The grants arrive less than two months after Base acknowledged that its previous creator-led social strategy had failed to produce the results the network expected.

Base creator Jesse Pollak said in July that the project spent much of 2024 and 2025 betting on developers and social applications as a route to crypto adoption. Demand for social products eventually “disintegrated completely,” according to Pollak, leaving Base behind competitors in areas including perpetual futures and prediction markets.

As crypto.news previously reported, Pollak subsequently stepped back from leading the Base App and handed responsibility for the product back to Coinbase. He remained focused on development of the Base blockchain.

The restructuring included the end of Base’s Creator Rewards program and the removal of its Farcaster-powered social feed. Introduced in July 2025, Creator Rewards allowed creators to earn from engagement while Base experimented with social features, mini apps and content coins.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong later acknowledged the content coin strategy had failed, saying in July that the company had changed direction earlier in 2026.

“They didn’t work and we pivoted early this year. We messed up, time to turn the page,” Armstrong said.

Trading, payments and AI agents now sit among Base’s main areas of focus, in that order, according to Armstrong. He said most resources were being directed toward trading infrastructure.

The new Creator Grant Program uses a different funding structure from the token-based creator model Base pursued through its social products. The Sept. 2 announcement describes direct grants for producing content, along with access to builders, regional distribution and separate weekly bounties. Base did not announce tradable creator tokens or engagement-based token rewards as part of the initiative.

Creator coins previously drove activity on Base

Base spent much of 2025 experimenting with ways for creators to earn directly from onchain content.

Coinbase unveiled the Base App in July 2025 as a product combining social features, payments, trading and decentralized applications. Farcaster powered the app’s social functions, while its Zora integration allowed posts to become tradable assets and creators to earn from activity around their content.

The model automatically minted ERC-20 tokens linked to social posts through Zora contracts, giving creators part of the token supply and a share of fees generated when the assets traded.

By August 2025, Zora creator coin activity helped Base surpass Solana in daily token launches. More than 1.6 million tokens were created within weeks, while nearly 3 million traders generated around $470 million in volume.

Much of the activity came from traders seeking short-term opportunities instead of sustained participation, according to reports at the time.

Base later reassessed its focus as financial applications gained more attention across the crypto market. Pollak said in July that concentrating on social products had left the network behind in perpetual futures and prediction markets.

Base had products operating in both categories through Avantis and Limitless, but Pollak acknowledged they trailed larger competitors. Dune Analytics data cited in July showed Base-native Limitless accounted for roughly 0.5% of monthly prediction market notional volume.

Trading has taken a larger role in the Base App

Coinbase has expanded the Base App’s financial products since the strategy change.

On Aug. 19, Coinbase added Hyperliquid perpetual markets to the Base App, giving eligible users access to more than 290 contracts. Hyperliquid handles execution while traders can open and manage positions through their existing wallets, with leverage reaching 50 times on supported markets.

The available contracts cover Bitcoin, Ethereum and markets tied to stocks and commodities. Coinbase said the product is unavailable to users in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and other jurisdictions where access to leveraged crypto derivatives is restricted.

Coinbase followed later in August by bringing tokenized U.S. stocks natively onto Base. The initial lineup covers Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet, with each token representing a beneficial interest in a corresponding share held through segregated regulated custody.

The products are available to eligible non-U.S. investors and can trade around the clock. Coinbase Onchain SPV Ltd., a company incorporated in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, formally issues the securities, while Alpaca Securities handles the underlying equities through its brokerage and custody infrastructure.

A “generational showdown”

Grayscale, a16z, and the CCI asked the SEC to preserve existing classification rules and avoid treating novel exchange-traded products as a single category, while proposing different routes to clearer and faster reviews.

Crypto industry participants urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to avoid a blanket restriction on “novel” exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and instead evaluate products based on their individual risk parameters.

Venture capital firm a16z asked the SEC to evaluate novel products according to their underlying characteristics, coordinate fund-registration and exchange-listing reviews and adopt more predictable timelines. Digital asset investment manager Grayscale and the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) supported optional confidential pre-filing processes.

All three opposed changing existing investment-company classifications in ways that could automatically sweep products holding non-securities into the Investment Company Act framework.

The letters were dated Aug. 31 and posted by the SEC around the close of a 60-day public-comment period on its request for feedback concerning novel ETFs.

The SEC opened the consultation window on the next generation of ETFs on June 30, seeking feedback on whether existing regulations are adequate, how such funds should be regulated and whether changes to the registration process are needed.

Related: California Senate passes bill to ban memecoin issuance by public officials

Crypto industry stakeholders urge SEC for more regulatory clarity on novel ETFs

A16z argued that crypto-based ETPs now benefit from more developed market infrastructure, including exchange-approved listing standards and established disclosure requirements, and therefore should not be grouped with products holding private assets or using other novel strategies.

Grayscale similarly argued that digital asset products with established compliance and disclosure records should not face new portfolio conditions or disclosure regimes merely because they are characterized as novel. CCI called for comparable regulatory efficiencies across ETFs and non-ETF ETPs while preserving existing investor protections.

The commenters broadly opposed categorical regulatory changes that could impose additional requirements or delay product launches. However, their recommendations differed on classification, approval procedures and terminology.

One clear disagreement concerned the ETF label. a16z proposed that the term ETF should be reserved for funds under the Investment Company Act of 1940, while Grayscale said that the term ETF should describe economic characteristics regardless of the legal wrapper.

Meanwhile, CCI urged the financial regulator to create clearer registration-status disclosures rather than radically changing the current approval framework.

Magazine: What NYSE’s exploration of onchain systems means for financial markets

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.