Are you wondering what happened to Friend.tech? Discover the shocking decline in activity and fees as we dig into the details.
The Rise and Fall of Friend.tech: A Promising Platform Meets Its Demise
Friend.tech, a decentralized social network that caused a stir with its recent launch, is now facing significant challenges as its key metrics plummet. Users are questioning the platform’s sustainability and intentions as activity, inflows, and volume experience a rapid decline within just three weeks of its debut.
Initially hailed as a groundbreaking platform, Friend.tech made waves when it debuted its beta version on Coinbase’s layer-2 Base platform on August 11. The platform takes social media influencers’ status to new heights by allowing them to sell “keys” directly linked to their X (formerly TwitteR) accounts, granting fans the ability to send them private messages. Friend.tech earns a 5% commission from these transactions, attracting both cryptocurrency and non-crypto influencers such as Cobie from the UpOnly podcast, Faze Banks from YouTube, and the Russian protest group Pussy Riot.
However, the hype surrounding Friend.tech has been short-lived. Inflows have drastically declined from a peak of $16.8 million on August 21 to around $1.6 million on August 27, marking a staggering decrease of nearly 90.5%, according to CoinTelegraph. This decline coincides with Elon Musk’s decision to restrict Twitter Blue subscribers from messaging non-subscribers, highlighting the irony of his earlier criticism of Twitter’s verification program. Additionally, Twitter’s new creator “cash-out” program, based solely on impressions rather than quality, further contributes to the platform’s dwindling appeal.
During its launch period, Friend.tech experienced a surge in popularity among social media influencers and others with large followings. The platform’s fees soared to over $1 million on August 19, surpassing notable platforms like Uniswap and the Bitcoin network. However, various opinions emerged regarding Friend.tech’s true potential, with some questioning whether it was a paradigm shift or simply another passing trend fueled by hype and organizational flaws.
Alex Valaitis, a controversial figure in the crypto space, likened Friend.tech to a high-stakes game of musical chairs, suggesting that only the early adopters stand to benefit. This sentiment is proving accurate, as Friend.tech’s fortunes take a sharp turn for the worse. Fees, which once peaked at $1.7 million on August 21, have now plummeted by over 87% to approximately $215,000 as of August 26, as reported by DefiLlama.
The decline in fees is mirrored by a significant decrease in buyers and sellers, with August 27 recording only 10,000 buyers and 7,800 sellers compared to the peak of over 58,000 buyers and 27,000 sellers on August 21, according to data from Dune. Similarly, the number of transactions on Friend.tech has seen a staggering decline of over 90%, dropping from nearly 525,000 on August 21 to just over 51,000 on August 27, as reported by Crypto Koryo.
Aside from its dwindling user base and transaction volume, Friend.tech has faced concerns over its lack of a privacy policy and potential regulatory issues surrounding the public release of user data. Many users feared a data leak involving 100,000 user accounts, despite Friend.tech referring to it as “public data.”
As the challenges mount for Friend.tech, comparisons have been drawn to BitCloud, a similar platform that faced a similar fate in 2021. Pseudonymous Web3 marketer Legendary predicts that Friend.tech will suffer a similar collapse.
In light of these developments, it raises the question of whether Friend.tech’s downfall is yet another example of greed and pursuit of quick profits. Only time will tell the ultimate fate of this once-promising platform.