Author: Azuma
Who is the most influential person in the U.S. right now? The answer might not be the familiar names of Trump or Musk, but a man named Nick Shirley.
Who is Nick Shirley? He is an independent investigative journalist currently stirring up emotions in American society. On December 27, Nick Shirley posted several investigative videos on social media platforms like X, Instagram, and YouTube, accusing the state of Minnesota of rampant fraud and corruption.
In the videos, Nick Shirley visited a daycare center in the state. Although it was supposed to be operating at the time, the center was closed, and the 99 registered students listed in public records were nowhere to be found. Nick Shirley asked a local resident who had lived in the area for 8 years, and the interviewee said: "I've lived here since 2017, but I've never seen any children."
Nick Shirley said in the video: "This is one of hundreds of 'daycare centers' that have received millions of dollars in government funding. This daycare, which can't even spell 'learning' correctly (it was misspelled as 'learing'), received $1.9 million in tax-free funding... and this is just one example among thousands of businesses in Minnesota suspected of fraudulent operations... Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is aware of these fraud cases but has never reported them."
Nick Shirley's videos have sparked massive attention and discussion in the U.S. Within just two days, the total views of the videos across platforms have reached hundreds of millions, with the full 42-minute investigative video on X alone garnering over 100 million views.
Prominent figures from politics and business have also joined the conversation with Nick Shirley. U.S. Vice President Vance repeatedly shared and replied, bluntly stating that Nick Shirley's investigation is more valuable than all the 2024 Pulitzer Prize works; Musk also followed Nick Shirley's account, highly praising his media value and calling 'learing' the 'word of the year.'
Here's some additional U.S. political context: Minnesota is typically considered a traditional Democratic stronghold in U.S. politics, but in recent years, the political landscape has significantly changed, showing characteristics of a swing state. More crucially, the current governor, Tim Walz, was Harris's running mate during the 2024 election and had the chance to hold the vice presidential position that Vance now occupies... so it's no surprise that Vance personally stepped in to criticize.
Given such a high-profile topic, coupled with the social and political attributes that Meme culture loves, the on-chain world was naturally not late to the party.
First, the community spontaneously speculated around the most abstract element of the investigation—the misspelled word 'learing.' The market cap of the Meme token on the Solana chain is temporarily reported at $3.34 million.
Next, the community discovered that Nick Shirley疑似 registered on Zora's creator platform and issued a personal creator token, $thenickshirley, on Base. Subsequent interactions in the comments between Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong and Nick Shirley confirmed that the token was indeed issued by him.
As of writing, the market cap of $thenickshirley is temporarily reported at $5.65 million (having once reached a high of $9.02 million), and Nick Shirley himself has already received $41,646 in creator earnings through royalty income.
Brian Armstrong commented that this proves content monetization on Base is more effective than on other platforms. Nick Shirley didn't forget to thank Brian Armstrong after making money, praising Base and Zora as "legendary."
Additionally, the prediction market Polymarket quickly followed up with speculation on the subsequent "handling" of this topic. The current odds are as shown in the image below:
An hour ago, Nick Shirley posted his Venmo and crypto addresses on X, openly accepting "tips."
From the new Meme hotspot $thenickshirley to Nick Shirley's token issuance itself, and then to opening "full-channel crowdfunding" and continuous external catalysis, we are witnessing a performance of the dance between network media and open finance.
This is not merely a Meme speculation but更像 a real-world experiment on "creator economy + on-chain content monetization"—an individual with immense传播力 and public issue influence in the real world, without sponsors, platform revenue sharing, or advertisers, directly monetized attention through on-chain tools to complete the闭环.
What it验证 is not "how high this token can rise" but a more fundamental question: whether content can truly be monetized in a lower-friction, more transparent manner on decentralized platforms. Within this, perhaps lies the future evolutionary direction of the media industry.
