- Users moving to copies and forks of the app will lose any points earned
- Community criticizes app for punishing users that test other platforms
- Transactions on Friendtech have dropped by over 90% in a week
Friendtech, a recently launched decentralized social media (DeSo) crypto app, has faced intense backlash for its decision to punish users for using similar apps or forks of its social media platform, Cointelegraph wrote.
The official X account tweeted on August 28 that users moving to copies and forks would lose all their current points and would no longer be able to earn any.
Competitor DeSo app Shares goes live
Friendtech did not mention any new market competitors, but X users brought up Shares, a new DeSo app whose beta version is expected to go live on Thursday, Aug. 31.
The criticism
Friendtech’s tweet provoked severe criticism from members of the crypto community. The move was seen as anti-competitive and hundreds of X users left negative comments within the first hour of the announcement.
One pseudonymous user wrote that threatening or punishing users for testing other platforms is “completely against everything this industry stands for.”
The point of Friendtech points?
Friendtech has been airdropping its beta testers points weekly, up to 100 million points over half a year. It’s not clear what these points will be used for. The team has mentioned they would “have a special purpose when the app enters official release status.”
Some insiders share users might be able to make a profit off the points, while others expect them to be converted to tokens for Friendtech governance. Still others find the app will airdrop native tokens in the near future as Paradigm invested quite a bit in it in a seed round.
Friendtech sees drop in activity, trading volume
The social media app launched on August 11. Bankless Times reported on August 21 that the app had generated $1.42 million in fees in 24 hours and $4.2 million since its launch.
However, things are heading south. It has seen a drop in trading volume, inflows, activity, and other key metrics over the past few days. On August 28, transactions on the app dropped by over 90% from a peak of more than half a million just one week earlier.
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