On September 8, the development team behind the decentralized social media protocol Friend.Tech relinquished control of its smart contract by transferring it to Ethereum’s null address. This decision marks the end of their authority over the project, which had been successfully launched just a year prior.
Control Handed Over to the Community
The team made the announcement via a post on X, stating:
“Admin and ownership parameters have been set to 0x000…000 to prevent any changes to their fees or functionality in the future.”
Despite this shift, the Friend.Tech web client will continue to function normally. The team clarified that “no fees from either the smart contracts or Friend.Tech currently go to the dev team multisig.”
Market Reaction
In the wake of this announcement, the platform’s native token FRIEND experienced a dramatic drop, plunging over 47% within 24 hours to an all-time low of $0.06026, as reported by CryptoSlate.
Although the team has not offered a clear rationale for this significant move, on-chain data analysis from CryptoSlate indicates a marked decline in the platform’s usage.
The Downward Trend of Friend.Tech
Launched in August of the previous year on Coinbase’s Layer 2 network, Base, Friend.Tech initially witnessed rapid adoption within the crypto community.
By September 2023, it began to outperform Ethereum in daily earnings, and its popular keys commanded high prices. During this period, the platform successfully secured an undisclosed seed round from the crypto venture capital firm, Paradigm.
Challenges Faced
However, the excitement surrounding the platform has diminished over time as it encountered various hurdles, including:
- SIM swap attacks
- Poorly managed exit plans from the Base blockchain
These complications led to a significant decrease in user engagement, with Dune Analytics noting a staggering 99% drop in transaction volume. By September, the platform was struggling to attract new users.
This decline has severely affected revenue, which plummeted to just $21 over the past month. In that same timeframe, the platform generated less than $10,000 in fees.
Community Feedback on Friend.Tech’s Fall
The downfall of Friend.Tech has attracted considerable criticism from the crypto community, particularly focusing on the project’s management.
Calvin Chu, a core builder at Impossible Finance, expressed his discontent, stating, “Friend.Tech had become more of a lab experiment than a genuine social finance project.” He also expressed his frustration over the lack of future upgradeability, feeling that it effectively halted any potential for development.
In a similar vein, Mikko Ohtamaa, CEO of Trading Strategy, remarked that Friend.Tech serves as a cautionary tale about monetizing temporary hype and quickly cashing out.
