"Cat Emoji Pack" also tradable? Zora launches attention marketplace innovation on Solana

Zora’s latest move has sparked widespread attention in the crypto community—this platform, which previously gained prominence on Ethereum and Base, has recently officially launched on Solana, introducing a brand-new trading mechanism: the Attention Market. This is not just a simple cross-chain deployment but also the first large-scale application of the “trend assetization” concept.

What is the Attention Market—A New Approach to Trend Assetization

In simple terms, the Attention Market allows users to invest and trade in trending topics, hashtags, and memes on social media. Imagine seeing a “cat meme” going viral on Twitter—you can buy related tokens early in the trend’s lifecycle and sell them at a high once it explodes in popularity—that’s the core logic of the Attention Market.

Starting a new trend requires paying 1 SOL as an initial cost (about $81 at current prices). This design aims to prevent users from flooding the platform with spam. Once someone initiates a trend, other participants can establish positions. If a topic like “cat memes” or “BTC hits $150,000” truly becomes a phenomenon-level hot topic, early participants’ tokens will rise in value accordingly.

Why Solana? Speed and Cost Advantages

Why did Zora abandon further expansion on Ethereum and instead choose Solana? The answer is straightforward: speed and cost.

The essence of the Attention Market is high-frequency trading—trend popularity can fluctuate dramatically within seconds, and prices change accordingly. In such scenarios, network latency or high transaction fees can severely impact user experience. Solana’s millisecond-level block times and minimal transaction costs perfectly meet these needs. In contrast, while Ethereum offers stronger security, its congestion periods with high Gas fees (sometimes hundreds of dollars) are clearly unsuitable for small, frequent trades.

From Ethereum to Solana—Reflections from the Base Community

However, Zora’s “migration” has also sparked some controversy. As a Layer 2 network supported by Coinbase, Base previously provided strong support for Zora, and many members of the Base community even regarded Zora as a flagship application within the ecosystem. Now that Zora has shifted to Solana, these community members may feel disappointed—once considered a “darling,” the project has now aligned with a competitor.

This phenomenon actually reflects a deeper issue: in the current multi-chain landscape, application migrations often follow pure business logic rather than ecosystem loyalty. Base’s low-cost advantage may not be enough to attract new applications demanding top-tier performance.

A Job Opening Sparks Reflection—The Future of Attention Economy

Interestingly, Zora has even opened a position for an “Attention Economist,” requiring applicants to have insights into internet trends and the ability to predict what will go viral next. This job posting itself indicates Zora’s serious attitude toward this market—they’re not just making a gimmick but exploring a completely new token economy model.

Does the attention market represent an innovative direction for DeFi, or is it just another wave of market noise? It’s too early to tell. But what’s undeniable is that Zora’s experiment on Solana is raising an intriguing question: in an age of information overload, can “trends” themselves become tradable assets? What is the value behind a “cat meme” going viral? These seemingly absurd questions may be gradually changing our understanding of value.