Author: Azuma
Who is currently the most talked-about person in America? The answer may not be the well-known figures like Trump or Musk, but rather a man named Nick Shirley.
Who is Nick Shirley? He is an independent investigative journalist stirring emotions in American society. On December 27, Nick Shirley released several investigative videos on social media platforms such as X, Instagram, and YouTube, accusing the state of Minnesota of rampant fraud and corruption.
In the videos, Nick Shirley visits a daycare center in the state, which was supposed to be open during operating hours but was closed, and the 99 registered students listed in public records were nowhere to be found. Nick Shirley asked a local resident who has lived in the area for eight years, and the interviewee stated, "I've lived here since 2017, but I've never seen any children."
Nick Shirley mentioned in the video, "This is one of hundreds of 'daycares' that have received millions of dollars in funding from the government. This daycare, which can't even spell 'learning' correctly, has received $1.9 million in tax-exempt funding… and this is just one case among thousands of businesses in Minnesota suspected of fraudulent operations… Governor Tim Walz knows about these fraud cases but has never reported them."
Nick Shirley's videos have sparked massive attention and discussion in the U.S., with total views across platforms reaching hundreds of millions within just two days. The complete 42-minute investigative video on X alone has garnered over 100 million views.
Notable figures from both political and business circles have engaged with Nick Shirley. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has repeatedly retweeted and replied, stating that Nick Shirley's investigation is more valuable than all the works nominated for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize; Musk has also followed Nick Shirley's account and praised him for demonstrating media value, calling "learning" the "word of the year."
To provide some political context, Minnesota is typically seen as a traditional stronghold for the Democratic Party in U.S. politics, but in recent years, the political landscape has changed significantly, exhibiting characteristics of a swing state. More critically, the current governor, Tim Walz, was once the running mate of Harris in the 2024 election and had the opportunity to take the vice presidency that Vance currently holds… so it’s not surprising that Vance would personally engage in this matter.
Given the high-profile nature of this topic, which also possesses the social and political attributes favored by memes, the blockchain world naturally did not take long to respond.
First, the community spontaneously began to hype around the most abstract misspelling, "learing," from this investigation, with the meme token on the Solana chain currently valued at $3.34 million.
Next, the community discovered that Nick Shirley had seemingly registered on the Zora creator platform and issued a personal creator token, $thenickshirley, on Base. The interaction between Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong and Nick Shirley confirmed that the token was indeed issued by him.
As of the time of writing, the market cap of $thenickshirley is reported at $5.65 million (with a peak of $9.02 million), and Nick Shirley himself has earned $41,646 in creator revenue through royalties.
Brian Armstrong stated that this proves that content monetization on Base is more effective than on other platforms, and Nick Shirley did not forget to thank Brian Armstrong after making money, praising Base and Zora as "legendary."
Additionally, the prediction market Polymarket quickly followed up with odds on the subsequent "handling" of this topic, as shown in the image below:
An hour ago, Nick Shirley posted his Venmo and crypto addresses on X, openly inviting "tips."
From the emerging meme hotspot $thenickshirley to Nick Shirley's token issuance itself, and the initiation of "omnichannel crowdfunding" with ongoing market catalysts, we are witnessing a performance of the interplay between online media and open finance.
This is not merely a speculative meme; it resembles a real-world experiment on "creator economy + on-chain content monetization" — an individual with significant communicative power and public issue influence in the real world, who, without sponsors, platform cuts, or advertisers, has directly completed a monetization loop of attention through on-chain tools.
What it validates is not "how much this token can rise," but rather a more fundamental question: can content truly be monetized on decentralized platforms in a lower-friction, more transparent manner? Within this, perhaps lies the future evolutionary direction of the media industry.
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