Friend.Tech Raising Red Flags Despite Revenue and TVL Surge

Key Takeaways

• With its income topping 10,648 ETH and a TVL of 30,165 ETH, the Friend.Tech protocol has accomplished key milestones.
• Friend.Tech enables its users to trade “keys” for access to private chatrooms.
• People are getting suspicious of the way pricing works and are calling it a ‘pump and dump’ scheme.

Based on Coinbase’s layer-2 protocol, Base, the decentralized social media site Friend.tech has reached  new heights in terms of income growth and total value locked on its platform.

Dune Analytics data  show that Friend.tech’s revenue increased to 10,663 ETH and that its total value locked (TVL) increased to above 30,000 ETH on October 2. The current increase in its sales and trading activity coincides with a drop in the initial enthusiasm around its launch.

Friend.tech History

Friend.tech, a decentralised social network platform introduced in August 2023, allows users to trade “keys” connected to X accounts (formerly Twitter) owned by their friends or influencers. These keys grant users access to exclusive content and private in-app chatrooms only accessible to the associated X user. On the site, users can purchase shares with their friends and influencers.

While many in the Web3 community praised the idea of a decentralized social network platform with a revenue-sharing mechanism, the platform has also attracted the ire of detractors.

Since its recent launch, the decentralized social networking platform has often been labeled as “dead.” A cryptocurrency expert questioned its revenue strategy and predicted its appeal would last only six to eight weeks, criticizing the unsustainable rate at which share prices initially rose.

The Friend.tech platform has however continued to experience record-breaking increases in income and user growth despite the criticism.

The platform now has 9,200,882 communication-related transactions during its latest revenue surge. While current trade metrics have decreased from the September highs, the site is still attracting new users.

Celebrities Profiting Through Friend.Tech

Esports stars Ricky “FaZe Banks” Bengston, Nordan “FaZe Rain” Shat, and 100 Thieves CEO Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag are reportedly among the highest-paid employees of Friend.tech.

The three influencers have made passive income totaling more than $27,000, $19,000, and $73,000 since signing up for the beta of the cryptocurrency social networking platform.

In less than 24 hours, content producer FaZe Rain has made nearly 226 ETH. Nadeshot, a professional “Call of Duty” player, earned over 322 ETH, or $27,000.