Viral Minnesota Childcare Fraud Video Sends Creator Coin To $9M Before A Sharp Pullback

• $THENICKSHIRLEY surged to $9 million on Zora after journalist Nick Shirley exposed childcare fraud in Minnesota, allegedly tied to Governor Tim Walz.
• Shirley has reportedly earned $65,000 in royalties, drawing praise from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Tesla’s Elon Musk.
• The move kick-started a discussion about creator tokens as open patronage in the meme coin sector.

Nick Shirley’s creator coin ($THENICKSHIRLEY) on Zora, which was built using Coinbase’s Base network, soared to an estimated $9 million market cap after his viral video exposing childcare fraud in Minnesota went mainstream — and then plunged more than 60% to about $3 million. Shirley was credited for exposing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for allegedly defrauding $9 billion in childcare funding and policy. 

According to many market watchers, Shirley earned approximately $65,000 in royalties from creator coins as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong applauded the new on-chain model for content monetization. 

Zora listed $THENICKSHIRLEY on its leaderboard not long after it was among the top creator coins. Momentum accelerated after Elon Musk amplified the narrative around citizen journalism. The token later fell more than 60% from its peak, highlighting both the revenue potential and volatility of creator-led crypto experiments. As of writing, the coin has a market cap of nearly $3 million on Zora. 

ZORA, the native token of the platform, was trading at $0.03886, down nearly 9% in the last 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the token remained in ‘bullish’ territory, with ‘high’ levels of chatter over the past day.

Creator Coins Spark Debate

Supporters argued that speculation is how supporters of creators fund those they like, and compared creator coins to a form of open-market patronage. Gary Tan, the President & CEO of Y Combinator, wrote on X that the top 5 creator coins on Zora included Shirley – alongside him and other industry veterans such as Balaji Sriivasan, Base founder Jesse Pollak, and Zora founderJacob Horne.

Critics, though, cited the quick drawdown as evidence that creator tokens struggle to hold long-term demand or onboard users with staying power beyond appeal once the hype wears off. 

Read also: Ethereum Faces Defining 2026 Moment As It Approaches Technical Turning Point

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