Decentralized social networks have always faced significant challenges to gain mainstream adoption. Such is the apparent case of Friend.tech, a new decentralized app that enjoyed explosive growth earlier this month.
Just barely two weeks after its launch, Friend.tech saw its trading fees grow to rival top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Tron. However, the euphoria is starting to subside, as activity and trading fees on the social media app have crashed by 94%.
Friend.tech Records Massive Fall In Trading Activity
Friend.tech’s model had raised concerns from some crypto investors, with some arguing about its long-term viability. Their criticism has been proven to be accurate as the situation at Friend.tech has started to deteriorate.
Friend.tech allows users to buy and sell shares of influential accounts and social media profiles, and the platform reportedly registered over 35,000 and 4,400 ETH ($8.1 million) in trading volume in its first 24 hours.
However, data from Dune Analytics show that trading volume has fallen since then, with less than $200,000 in fees generated in the past 24 hours. Trading activity has also been down from over 35,000 to less than 6,000 users. This has been reflected in trading costs, as revenue has decreased by more than 94% since the exchange first opened its doors.
Friendtech buyers and sellers tanking to 0
GG Friendtech? pic.twitter.com/jmXKu41KDd
— Boxmining (@boxmining) August 28, 2023
Friend.tech’s business model relied heavily on charging users a 10% fee for every buy and sell of shares. Friend.tech surpassed Bitcoin in terms of trading fees, recording almost $1.4 million in revenue during the height of the platform’s trading activity. However, data from DeFiLlama shows that trading fees are now at $160,000 in the past 24 hours.
Friend tech is dead because of greed and poor execution. We can see that after the initial influencer pump volume has fallen off a cliff. Let’s dig into how this failure came to be 👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/WDQncTQJ21
— Lisandro (@TheRealLisandro) August 27, 2023
Friend.tech also incorporates Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bots, which are automated trading bots designed to exploit rapid price movements. Although these bots have generated over $2 million in profits, they have been credited with discouraging content creators and users.
The Plight Of Decentralized Social Media Platforms
Decentralized social media have been touted to be the future of the internet. However, platforms have been faced with many challenges and have struggled to gain a firm footing in the market. One of the challenges is the expansion of the user base. Overcoming these challenges will be key to disrupting the status quo and achieving the promise of decentralized social media.
At the time of writing, Friend.tech has a TVL of $6.4 million and has generated fees of over $7.8 million to date. But while Friend.tech is still operating, critics have likened its imminent failure to the fall of BitClout, another decentralized social media app.
Total market cap struggles at $1.026 trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on Tradingview.com