Friend.tech's Strategic Shift

Decentralized social media platform Friend.tech announced a significant shift on June 8. The platform plans to migrate from Coinbase's Layer 2 network Base to its blockchain. This new network, dubbed Friendchain, will use the FRIEND token as its gas token.

Partnership with Conduit

The Friend.tech team revealed the collaboration with the crypto infrastructure platform Conduit to build Friendchain. They promised to keep the community informed as they develop this exciting new chapter.

"We'll keep you up-to-date with all the info you need over the coming months as we build out this exciting new chapter," said the Friend.tech team.

Market Reaction and Concerns

The startup's announcement caused FRIEND's price to rally by over 60% to $1.34. However, the price then fell to $0.70, according to Coinmarketcap.

Several users questioned the necessity of building a separate blockchain. Some argued that a social-focused chain would not benefit from choosing this direction. Others raised concerns that gas costs paid out in FRIEND could be higher than average levels on Base.

Community Opinions

A pseudonymous user, @lazyvillager1, commented that the move was short-term bullish but mid-term bearish for the project. The user opined that the ultimate long-term vision should be for backers and investors to continue clipping protocol fees.

The project should aim to exit at a SaaS multiple to a Web2 company, being the Web3 portal for monetized social media.

"FT [Friend.tech] trying to capture the value accrual to-chain today is too hedonistic," said @lazyvillager1.

Founder and Base Creator's Perspectives

Friend.tech's pseudonymous founder, Racer, had hinted at this move last month. Racer posted a system design bounty for migrating Friend.tech off Base without causing major issues for users, offering $200K for a viable solution. The post has since been deleted.

Base creator Jesse Pollak shared his thoughts, acknowledging that parts of the ecosystem incorrectly culturally labeled Friend.Tech is negatively speculative.

This made the team feel isolated and disconnected early on. Pollak expressed sadness at the potential departure but respected and supported the decision.

"I'll be sad if the team decides to leave Base, but I also respect and will support whatever path - that's the beauty of the decentralized, onchain economy!" said Pollak.