Friend.Tech, the Web3 social networking platform that allows users to trade tokens for access to influential individuals feeds, is seemingly winding down just one year after its successful launch.

On September 8, the developers behind it relinquished control of its smart contracts by transferring ownership to Ethereum’s null address. This action locks the system in its current state and prevents any further updates or feature additions.

FRIEND Token Plummets 26%

The decision was confirmed in an announcement posted by the team on X, “Admin and ownership parameters have been set to 0x000000 to prevent any changes to their fees or functionality in the future.”

The statement also clarified that no fees from it will go to the Friend.Tech development team. Although the platform appears to remain operational, the loss of control over its smart contracts makes it highly unlikely for new features to be introduced or changes to be made.

Following the announcement, CoinGecko data shows that its native FRIEND token has dropped by 26.4%, currently trading at $0.05942, with it also reaching an all-time low of $0.05748 on September 9.

Meanwhile, investors have also felt the impact of  FRIEND’s decline. Lookonchain reported that crypto influencer Machi Big Brother, who invested approximately 5,200 ETH worth around $16.7 million to acquire 11.1 million of the tokens, is now facing a $16 million loss as its value has plummeted to just $0.7 million.

Friend.Techs Rise and Fall

Launched on Base in August 2023, Friend.Tech quickly gained traction for its innovative model of selling keys for exclusive content from influencers. However, despite its initial success, trading activity on the platform began to decline. A significant blow came when Racer hinted at leaving the Base blockchain for a new project, FriendChain.

Although these plans were eventually abandoned, the announcement led to confusion, and the platform’s activity never fully recovered. To boost interest, Friend.Tech introduced Version 2 and conducted a token airdrop, which briefly brought users back.

However, this short-lived resurgence did not sustain long-term engagement, with protocol fees totaling only about $60,000 since June 2024. Latest reports indicate that fees generated on the platform have plunged to as low as $71, a situation that may be behind the teams decision to renounce control.

The circumstances are eerily similar across other major decentralized social platforms such as Farcaster and Lens. Data from one analyst on Dune shows that new users on Farcaster have dropped from a high of 15,000 in February to about 650 currently.

Additionally, the number of daily active users on the platform has plummeted by about 40%, coming from a peak of 100,000 in July to about 60,000 presently.