The decentralized social network Friend.tech has achieved tremendous success, generating over $1 million in fees within just 24 hours of its release. This outstanding performance has surpassed well-established players like Uniswap and the Bitcoin (BTC) network. According to data from crypto data aggregator DefiLlama, Friend.tech has generated $1.12 million in fees within a single day and a total of $2.8 million since its inception.
Racing Ahead in Revenue and Transactions
The platform has amassed a total revenue of $818,620, facilitating over 650,000 transactions on their social platform involving more than 60,000 individual traders. These impressive numbers highlight the strong traction and engagement that Friend.tech has witnessed in a relatively short period.
Meet Racer, the Innovative Mind Behind Friend.tech
The mastermind driving this groundbreaking project is believed to be a developer operating under the pseudonym Racer. Racer’s previous accomplishments include designing social media networks like TweetDAO and Stealcam, both built on non-fungible tokens (NFTs). With Friend.tech, Racer aims to attract crypto influencers with substantial fan bases, granting them the opportunity to earn royalties from trading fees.
“So controversial personalities might earn more or even creating FUD will be used as a strategy to earn fees,” the user said.
Racer’s vision for Friend.tech extends beyond attracting influencers. The platform also seeks to strengthen connections between Web3 projects, venture capitalists, and influential figures within the crypto industry. By fostering these relationships, Friend.tech aims to create a thriving ecosystem of collaboration and innovation.
Launched as a beta version on August 11, Friend.tech offers a unique feature that allows users to tokenize their social networks. By purchasing and selling “shares” of their connections, individuals gain the ability to communicate privately with one another. The platform applies a 5% fee on transactions, allowing the owner to profit from the trade spread. Built on Coinbase’s layer-2 network Base, Friend.tech leverages advanced technology to provide a seamless and secure user experience.
Revenue Model, Risks, and Future Potential
The remarkable success of Friend.tech has sparked discussions about its revenue model, risks, and future potential. An anonymous DeFi researcher known as Ignas has raised concerns about the platform’s current business model, which relies solely on trading fees and fails to consider the number of shareholders involved. Additionally, there are worries that controversial personalities might exploit the system to earn higher fees or utilize fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) as a strategy.
“As shares get sold, the prices also significantly increase. For example, the 500th member pays around 15.6Ξ, the 250th member pays 3.9Ξ, and the 100th member pays 0.625Ξ,” stated Lux Moreau, founder of Talk.Markets, highlighting the potential impact of rising share prices on the formation of smaller groups or alternative group creations within the platform.
“The increasing prices of shares may lead to the formation of smaller groups or alternative group creations within the platform,” the crypto veteran said in a tweet.
Concerns regarding data privacy have also been raised. A Twitter user, Spot On Chain, pointed out that Friend.tech’s API can potentially be exploited to extract sensitive user data, such as showing the wallets created by users. This issue gained attention when a core developer for Yearn Finance published a list of 101,000+ users with their wallet addresses and Twitter usernames, indicating potential data exposure. Furthermore, the developer claimed that every user on the platform unknowingly gave Friend.tech permission to post on their behalf on Twitter.
