Friend.tech gets unfriended: Daily transactions drop 95% as hyped decentralized social app loses steam

It may be time to put to rest yet another effort to build a social network on a blockchain: The number of transactions on decentralized social network friend.tech has cratered after less than 20 days since its launch.

Friend.tech is trying a new spin on a decentralized social network by letting users tokenize themselves and sell “shares,” now dubbed “keys,” to fans and followers. People who buy these shares then become “shareholders” and can engage with the creator directly.

While many rushed to sign up like it was the next gold mine as big name crypto influencers, NBA players and OnlyFans creators jumped onto the platform, others were more cautious and skeptical because the app needed you to deposit funds when signing up, lacked a clear privacy policy, and had a pretty foggy roadmap. Now it appears the people who hesitated on betting their net worth on others’ may be the ones to come out on top.

Activity on the app, running as an invite-only public beta since August 10, declined 95% from a peak of almost 39,000 daily transactions on August 21 to about 1,400 at the time of writing, according to Dune Analytics data from user cryptokoryo.

Just seven days ago, I wondered if friend.tech’s early growth would be sustainable, and we can see that the answer is clearly no.

Besides declining transactions, the inflow of funds on the protocol has also tumbled from $1.98 million at its peak on August 20 to about $8,300 today. Still, the app has recorded inflow of about $81 million in total, which isn’t insignificant for a platform this new.

To be fair, it isn’t uncommon to see declining user engagement after launch: Social media platforms Bluesky and Threads gained ample early traction only to see the hubbub fade in the following weeks and months.