A look into Friend.tech, the trending social app on Base that lets you trade shares of Crypto Twitter personalities.
What is Friend.tech?
On August 10, a new social crypto-based social application went live and quickly exploded in popularity on Crypto Twitter. Known as friend.tech, the application is a mobile-only application built on the newly launched L2 chain, Base, by centralized exchange, Coinbase.
Source: friend.tech
Their Twitter bio “Your network is your net worth,” encapsulates the idea behind friend.tech. Friend.tech essentially allows anyone on the app to bet on the social worth of other users on the platform, through the purchase of shares of the other user. In essence, friend.tech is a social token platform.
Within just a day, friend.tech has amassed more than 8.5K users and generated more than 3.2K ETH in trading volume from the trading of user shares.
Source: Dune
According to Dune, the platform has done over 6,682 ETH, worth over $12.3 million, in cumulative volume since launching 4 days ago. It has generated 334 ETH ($615K) in fees. The surge in popularity of friend.tech has also resulted in Base, which launched its mainnet on August 9, to overtake Layer-2 network Arbitrum in daily active users.
Getting Access to Friend.tech
Friend.tech is a mobile-only application, but unlike most apps, it is not downloaded from the App Store or Google Play Store. Instead, users will have to visit friend.tech and save the page to their Home Screen on their mobile device. For iOS users, your device will have to be updated to the latest version for this to work.
Currently, friend.tech is under limited access, meaning that the only way to use the app is through acquiring an access code. Access codes can be obtained through several ways:
1. Getting an access code from someone who is already a user on the app. Each user will be given three access codes, which can then be shared to allow new users to enter the app.
2. Friend.tech’s Twitter account has dropped a set of codes once, but they are quickly snapped up, so keep a lookout!
3. A final way to get access codes would be to camp on Twitter as users are eagerly sharing their access codes, in the hope of an airdrop in the future based on the number of users referred. These access codes are also quickly snapped up, so if you’re looking for them, stay on your toes!
Source: friend.tech Twitter
Once you’ve acquired an access code, you will have to sign up using an email or a phone number, and then link your Twitter profile to the application. Your Twitter profile will serve as the public facing profile on friend.tech.
Upon signing up, a wallet is created for your account, where users will have to transfer any amount of ETH to the wallet in order to access the app. Do note that as friend.tech is still a very new app, do not transfer into the app more than you are willing to lose and exercise due diligence when interacting with the app.
Buying and Selling Shares
Once you’re on the app with a funded wallet, you can proceed to acquire shares of other users on the app, which can be thought of as social tokens of their respective users. Prices of user shares fluctuate based on demand and supply. In fact, Laurence has already put together a spreadsheet for the pricing model of shares:
Crypto Twitter personalities such as Cobie and Hsaka are already on the platform and their shares have seen tremendous interest from users, trading to all time high values (thus far) of 2.4 and 2.1 ETH respectively. Trading of a user’s shares generates a sales tax, which is distributed to the specific user. This means that your network and the attention that you command directly correlate to how much you make from the people trying to trade your shares.
Source: nftimm_sol (link)
Buying shares also entitles the holder to a private chat with that user. So if you bought a share of Cobie, you would be able to message Cobie directly via friend.tech. That said, there is no guarantee or obligation for said user to reply to your messages.
Airdrop
Not unlike most new crypto apps, users have already begun speculation over the airdrop potential of friend.tech. Many users have speculated that points obtained from referring new users to the platform will eventually translate to a token airdrop, especially with an “Airdrop” tab specifically built into the application.
Source: yuga.eth (link)
The Friend.tech Team
The team behind friend.tech is a pseudonymous duo known as 0xRacer and Shrimp, who are no strangers to the world of social applications.
Prior to friend.tech, the developer duo had launched another crypto social app, Stealcam. Stealcam allows users to upload any photo onto the blockchain, where the photo will be blurred beyond recognition and placed on the app for all to see as an NFT. Users can then pay to steal the NFT, at the same time revealing it to them. The catch? The price to steal increases by 10% with every “theft”, which is distributed to the image uploader and the previous uploader.
This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators.
This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap.
