Tech
FriendTech App Decentralized Social Cryptography App What it is How it works
Friendship is often touted as one of life’s most priceless treasures, a bond that transcends material wealth. Interestingly, in the age of cryptocurrency and blockchain, this relationship is being commoditized and tokenized through the raging phenomenon called Friend.Tech.
How much is a true friendship really worth to you? And would you be willing to sell that friendship to the highest bidder? These are the burning questions put to the test by this controversial new platform that has taken the cryptocurrency world by storm.
So what exactly is Friend.Tech? How does this decentralized social app work? And, most importantly, in symbolizing human connection itself, is he proving himself to be a trusted companion or an enemy who undermines the true essence of friendship? Let’s peel back the layers on this viral craze.
What is Friend.Tech?
The concept of a decentralized social app (or Social DApp) is not new, but Friend.Tech has emerged as the most successful Web3 “anti-Facebook” to date. Built on the Base network, Friend.Tech boasts over 200,000 users and an astonishing $309 million in trading volume. Its popularity helped Base surpass Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Optimism in transactions per second after launch.
Surprisingly, Friend.Tech is now one of the most profitable crypto protocols, surpassing giants like Uniswap, MakerDAO, and even Bitcoin itself, all within months of its release on August 10th.
Origin of Friend.Tech
Interestingly, Friend.Tech started out under a different name than the two-person team Racer and Shrimp. Racer’s first decentralized social project was TweetDAO, where egg NFTs granted access to a shared Twitter account before being shut down.
Then came Stealcam, rebranded as Friend.Tech in May, where users could mint images as invisible-until-purchased NFTs, which could also disappear if someone else bought them from you.
How does Friend.Tech work?
The premise is simple: Friend.Tech allows you to buy and sell “keys” that represent shares of your friends or any user. A larger number of keys makes future keys exponentially more expensive. Each transaction carries a 10% commission: half goes to the buyer/seller and half to the platform. Key owners get access to private chat rooms and exclusive content from that “friend.”
The hype behind Friend.Tech
So why this advertisement? Probably the prospect of a future airdrop, as suggested by Friend.Tech’s “airdrop” tab which states “Points released every Friday will have future uses.” Popular Crypto Twitter personalities like Hsaka, Cobie, and Pranksy were among the first, along with celebrities like Grayson Allen and FaZe Banks whose keys were stolen by fans.
VCs like Paradigm have also come on board. The attraction of these chats is that their owners can offer trading insights, token choices, or access to seed funding deals, which increases the value of the shares.
To get started, you will need an invitation code from friends or influencers. Then create an account linked to X (formerly Twitter) and deposit at least 0.01 ETH from Ethereum or Base into the automatically created wallet. Using a wallet burner is advisable for privacy. Once set up, start buying and exchanging friend keys!
To accumulate launch points you must actively buy, sell and share invitation codes. However, many question Friend.Tech’s staying power, given the openly teased airdrop and questionable sustainability with top keys ranging from 0.1 to over 7 ETH. Is the activity simply supported by whales hungry for airdrops? The 5% revenue share for exchange users also incentivizes public figures to sign up for “easy money” without providing real value.
Although volatile, Friend.Tech was earning over $1 million a day in commissions at its peak in August with over 100,000 users, an extremely high figure for a crypto app. Some key influencers like @Cobie and @HsakaTrades have reached almost $5,000. Business waned as the shine faded, but saw an influx of $7 million in early April ahead of the launch of Version 2 expanding beyond Twitter in May 2024. Weekly rates recently topped 1.3 million dollars for the first time since November.
Developers have also teased a FRIEND token, with the expectation that it could be launched based on accumulated usage points. However, privacy concerns persist as one researcher easily doxxed users by linking Twitter profiles to wallet addresses generated upon registration. The wisdom of trusting Friend.Tech with private keys is also questionable.
Ultimately, Friend.Tech exemplifies how anything can be tokenized in cryptocurrencies, innovatively monetizing attention and influence in a similar way to OnlyFans or Patreon. But is the price of these friendships exchanged on blockchain what you are willing to pay?
(The author is the Vice President of WazirX)
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