According to Tom Wan, an on-chain analyst at 21.co, Friend.tech’s daily activities related to key minting have seen a decline, with minimal minting on most days.
In an X thread on Jan. 7, Wan revealed that the decentralized social network transferred nearly half of its earned fees, totaling 7,800 ETH (equivalent to $16.6 million), to a centralized cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase.
The latest move comes as Friend.tech experiences a substantial decline in assets locked in the project. At its peak, the total value of assets locked in Friend.tech’s smart contract reached 30,000 ETH (around $50 million) but has since dropped by 50% to its current standing of 15,000 ETH (around $33 million).
Wan pointed out that the users’ exodus also coincides with daily activities related to key minting witnessing a decline, with minimal minting and a higher frequency of redemptions on most days.
As of press time, slightly more than one percent of active users on Coinbase’s Base blockchain are using Friend.tech, representing a notable contrast to the peak period when nearly 55% of active addresses on Base were using the project, contributing to 18% of the total fees generated during that time. According to data from DefiLlama, the total fees generated on Friend.tech has been falling since September 2023, reaching new lows at 10 ETH per day on average.
Launched in August 2023, Friend.tech is a Base-based social network application, where users can monetize their content or expertise. In its essence, the startup is a marketplace for friends, a decentralized platform where users tokenize their social connections, granting privileges such as private messaging and interaction rights.