Scores of Friend.tech Users Remain Active Even as Trading Volumes Drop 95%

Scores of market participants are singling out social app Friend.tech as being the latest crypto fad that rose, and fizzled, within days, pointing to falling revenue activity. The platform became the largest crypto platform by that metric earlier this month.

Friend.tech lets X (formerly Twitter) personalities issue “keys” on its app to access a closed group chat. The platform has earned over $4.2 million worth of ether in fees for creators over this period. The platform is built on Base, crypto exchange Coinbase’s new layer-2 network.

Data shows transactional activity on the platform has slumped from a peak of $16 million on August 21 to just over $700,000 as of Thursday – or a 95% drop in buying and selling volumes.

"On-chain, some of the exit narratives seem a little exaggerated," tweeted analytics firm Arkham. It pointed out users continue to hold 3,870 ETH worth of keys, or just a 10% drop over the past week.

Cumulative volumes grew from $80 million to $85 million so far this week, flatlining from a multifold surge from $2 million to $80 million in the first two weeks after going live on August 10.

But actual user activity is seemingly chugging along. The data shows total users have nearly doubled in the past week – with at least 5,000 returning users daily, or those who use the platform on consecutive days.

New users have steadily dropped over this period, however, suggesting most demand or interest was met in the initial days.

Friend.tech developers claim over 75% of key holders use their app "the next day" and over 50% "still use it after a week."

"The average active key holder spends over 30 minutes per day using friendtech," developers said Thursday.

A slew of personalities outside of crypto circles on X joined Friend.tech in the past few weeks, fueling its viral popularity, including the likes of Richard “FaZe Banks” Bengtson II, co-founder of the influential esports community FaZe Clan, NBA player Grayson Allen and a bunch of popular creators from subscription site OnlyFans.

Such growth has come in a very short time, even for crypto’s fast-moving standards. Friend.tech’s invite-only beta launched on August 10 and racked up some 4,400 ETH (about $8.1 million) in trading volume on the first day.