The latest buzz in the crypto-sphere circles around Friend.tech, a new social tokenization protocol. Touted as a contemporary money-spinner for developers, this platform enables X, previously known as Twitter, personalities to issue shares within its app granting access to exclusive group chats. As per DefiLlama’s data, the platform has netted an astonishing $1.04 million in transaction fees, totaling around $709,000 in ether revenue after excluding gas fees and other costs, all within 24 hours.
While it sits behind the Ethereum blockchain ($3.33 million fees) and staking service Lido ($1.54 million fees) in the fees hierarchy, its revenue generation surpasses all. As for Lido, its revenues were considerably lower at $154,000.
Impressively, Friend.tech’s growth chart has spiked abruptly since its invite-only beta launch on August 10. It reported around 4,400 ETH ($8.1 million) in trading volume on its maiden day. It orbits around Base, the recently initiated layer-2 network by Coinbase. It is also noteworthy how shares of certain crypto X figures, for instance, Cobie and Hsaka, swelled to almost three ether ($5,000), and that too in just a few days.
The protocol appears to be rejuvenating the somewhat tarnished reputation of Base. Last week, Base boasted 136,000 daily active users – outnumbering layer 2 networks Arbitrum and Optimism. This resurgence is principally ascribed to Friend.tech’s burgeoning user base.
Group chats within this sphere are morphing into cloistered community experiences for share purchasers. Some users such as @RookieXBT are dangling revenue shares and X premium subscriptions as incentives to holders.
Yet, it’s more than plausible that the real hype is just over the horizon. Notably, several non-crypto personalities joined Friend.tech over this past weekend. This suggests a new wave of crypto adoption amongst the masses. Esports icon Richard “FaZe Banks” Bengtson II and NBA athlete Grayson Allen added their names to the platform and quickly garnered substantial share prices.
Commenting on this trend, FaZe Banks expressed his excitement for such a democratizing product, “I’ve always thought the idea of betting on the success of especially YouTubers/ streamers success would be cool,” he tweeted, “Outside of just time and resources, I’ve discovered so many talented people, a product like this is perfect for that.”
While this optimism paints a promising future for Friend.tech and piques the curiosity of a wider audience, it also brings to light certain concerning features of the platform. The dizzying heights of revenue generation and the risk of opening up to non-crypto individuals point towards a potential over-economic focus and questions regarding regulatory oversight. Amidst the hope and hype, only time will tell if Friend.tech can sustain and scale responsibly.
Source: Coindesk
