A new token launch is supposed to feel like a beginning. A digital ribbon-cutting ceremony where a creator and their community can finally share something. When Base founder Jesse Pollak released his own creator coin on Thursday, it was certainly a beginning. Just maybe not the one he had in mind.
- Two automated traders, known as snipers, profited over $1.3 million by exploiting a new Base feature called “flashblocks” almost instantly after the JESSE token launched. These traders used specialized algorithms and large tips to ensure their buy orders were processed in the first micro-blocks, effectively frontrunning the community.
- The incident highlights the conflict between the community-focused ideals of creator coins—which aim to give ownership back to followers—and the hyper-optimized financial realities of the crypto space. The initial upside went to efficient capital allocators rather than the intended stakeholders.
- Flashblocks divide the standard two-second block time into 200-millisecond micro-blocks, allowing bots to react to token deployment transactions with extreme speed. This speed, while efficient, creates an arena where the fastest and wealthiest players can dominate public information events.
Before most followers could even find the right trading pair, the party was over for the earliest buyers. Two automated traders, known in this world as snipers, had already come and gone. They left with a combined profit of more than $1.3 million. The whole operation took less time than it takes to read this sentence.
This wasn’t a hack. It wasn’t an exploit. It was a demonstration of speed and precision, made possible by a new feature on the very blockchain Pollak helped build. It’s a story about how, in crypto, the distance between a community ideal and a financial reality can be measured in milliseconds.
A sniper, if you’re new to the term, is a trader who uses a specialized algorithm to get to the front of the line. Think of it like a concert ticket scalper, but instead of a person hitting refresh on a webpage, it’s a piece of code. This code is designed to detect the moment a new token becomes available and buy a massive chunk of it before anyone else can.
The practice became a signature move during the memecoin frenzy earlier this year. A new coin would appear, and within a single tick of the blockchain clock, bots would own a significant slice of the supply, ready to sell it to the wave of human buyers coming in right behind them. In this case, the snipers managed to buy JESSE tokens in the very same block the token was born.
According to analysis from Arkham Intelligence, these two traders acquired a staggering 261.7 million JESSE tokens almost instantly. The top sniper walked away with a clean $707,700 profit. The runner-up wasn’t far behind, pocketing $619,600.
Let’s look at one of these trades up close. It’s a masterclass in digital aggression. One of the winning wallets threw down about $191,000 to purchase 7.6% of the total token supply. But the purchase itself is only half the story. To make sure their order was processed first, the trader included a tip of more than $44,000 for the Base sequencer (the entity that orders transactions). It’s like slipping the bouncer a huge bill to skip the entire line. After selling the tokens, the trader’s net profit was over $600,000.
So, how did they do it? How do you buy something in the same moment it’s created? The answer lies in a feature Base rolled out in July called “flashblocks.”
The Base network produces a new block of transactions roughly every two seconds. That’s already quite fast. But flashblocks slice that time even finer. Within each two-second block, there are now a series of 200-millisecond micro-blocks. It’s like discovering that a single second on a clock is actually made of ten smaller, faster ticks.
This structure, as pseudonymous analyst bheau pointed out, changes the game completely. A sniper’s bot can be programmed to watch the network with inhuman patience. The instant it sees the transaction that deploys the JESSE token contract appear in the first micro-block, it springs into action.
The bot immediately submits its own high-fee buy order. Because of that massive tip, its transaction gets priority and is included in the very next micro-block, just 200 milliseconds later. To anyone looking at the final, two-second block on a block explorer, the two events look simultaneous. The token was created, and the sniper bought it. Same block, same time. A perfect, lightning-fast trade.
What makes this different from other forms of frontrunning is that it doesn’t require secret deals or private access to transaction pools. It’s a strategy based on public information and the willingness to pay for speed. The micro-blocks make the information visible just long enough for the fastest algorithms to react.
This high-speed extraction stands in stark contrast to the stated purpose of creator coins. Just this week, Pollak described them as a new tool for connection. He wrote that creator coins and their communities, “Paired together they create a flywheel that puts ownership, control, and upside back in the hands of creators and their followers.”
It’s a powerful vision. The idea of a token that aligns the incentives of an artist, a writer, or a builder with the people who believe in their work is one of crypto’s most appealing promises. It suggests a future where fans are no longer just consumers but active participants and stakeholders.
Yet, the launch of JESSE shows the immense challenge of turning that vision into reality. The first wave of “upside” didn’t go to the followers. It was captured by two anonymous, highly efficient capital allocators who treated the launch not as a community event, but as a pure arbitrage opportunity.
The market for JESSE did stabilize, of course. According to CoinMarketCap data, the token is currently trading with a fully diluted valuation of $13.8 million, supported by $4.4 million in the liquidity pool (a shared pot of tokens traders swap against). It has seen over $33 million in trading volume. A market exists. But its opening moments were defined by an act of pure, unadulterated capitalism.
This isn’t a failure of Base, exactly. It’s more of a revelation. The very features that make a blockchain fast and efficient can also create arenas for new kinds of predatory trading. It raises a fundamental question for anyone building in this space. How do you build a system that is open to everyone, but not immediately dominated by the fastest and wealthiest players?
The story of the JESSE launch is a microcosm of the entire crypto industry. It’s a clash between a hopeful, community-focused ethos and the unforgiving, hyper-optimized logic of the code itself. For now, it seems the code is still a few steps ahead.
