Disclaimer: This is neither a recommendation nor an endorsement to buy or trade any token(s). yyctrader has been using friend.tech since August and holds many of the keys mentioned.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n friend.tech is a social trading app that has drawn in users from all corners of crypto, from DeFi and coin traders to NFT collectors, builders and thought leaders. In the two months since it launched, the platform has amassed a total value locked (TVL) of nearly $50M and crossed 100,000 users in its first two weeks<\/a>.<\/p>\n friend.tech is a web3 social media application that facilitates interactions between creators and their audience through the selling and buying of “keys” linked to Twitter accounts, which give access to private chatrooms. It runs on Base, the Layer 2 network from Coinbase that launched this summer.<\/p>\n Nearly $400M<\/a> worth of keys have been traded as of Oct. 5, netting the platform a cool $19.5M in fees, as it collects 5% of every trade. In terms of weekly revenue, it\u2019s currently ahead of all major DeFi protocols except Lido<\/a>.<\/p>\n SocialFi isn\u2019t a new concept \u2013 we\u2019ve already seen BitClout, Lens, Farcaster etc.<\/p>\n So why are degens betting serious money on these keys? As with most hyped narratives in crypto, there\u2019s naturally a token involved.<\/p>\n friend.tech is backed by Paradigm<\/a>, a well-regarded VC firm that was an early investor in Uniswap, Fireblocks and Chainalysis, among other major crypto projects<\/a>. It also backed Blur, the now-leading NFT marketplace by volume, which drew users away from OpenSea by offering activity-based airdrops of BLUR tokens<\/a>.<\/p>\n Start for free<\/a><\/div>\n On Aug. 14, friend.tech announced<\/a> that 100M \u2018points\u2019 would be distributed weekly to users of the platform over six months.<\/p>\n Despite a lack of tokenomics information or even official confirmation of a token from the team, that hasn\u2019t stopped yield farmers from speculating<\/a> on the future value of these points. Estimates range from $0.50 to as high as $5, with future tokens reportedly<\/a> being sold over the counter (OTC) already.<\/p>\n A recent analysis<\/a> from hopydoc of the Spartan Group projects $3+ per point if the platform continues to generate fees at current levels.<\/p>\n Currently, farmers are earning 50 points per ETH on average, but that’s subject to drop as TVL rises.<\/p>\n Earning a triple-digit yield on ETH sounds great, right? Not so fast.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This isn\u2019t your typical yield farm where you park your assets and claim rewards occasionally.<\/p>\n In this tutorial, I\u2019ll share some tips to get the most out of your friend.tech experience while avoiding potentially costly mistakes.<\/strong><\/p>\n Before we get started, here are some risks you should be aware of:<\/p>\n Setting up a friend.tech account is quite straightforward. Simply head over to friend.tech<\/a> on your computer or mobile device and sign up by connecting your Twitter and email accounts.<\/p>\n As the app is still in closed beta, you\u2019ll need an invite code. You can find some single-use codes at the end of this tutorial or on Twitter. Please reach out in Discord<\/a> if you\u2019re unable to find one.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll need to fund your newly created wallet with ETH on Base to get started, and there are various deposit options:<\/p>\n Once your account is funded, you will be prompted to buy your own key for free + gas. Once this is done, your account will be active and your key will become tradeable.<\/p>\n If you run into any issues, please consult this setup guide<\/a> by 0xBreadguy.<\/p>\n At this stage, I recommend that you export your friendtech wallet to a regular browser wallet like Metamask or Rabby, so you can retain access even if the platform goes down.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you are a prominent personality, don\u2019t be surprised to see a rush of buyers, as these are bots and traders on the hunt for new accounts that they can flip for a profit.<\/p>\n Keys are priced along a bonding curve and a 10% fee is levied on all trades, half of which goes to the creator and the other half to the platform.<\/p>\n Be aware that fees add up quickly and it\u2019s most profitable to enter early, as one would expect.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The above graphic illustrates the mechanics well. A spreadsheet version of the bonding curve model can also be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Points are released every Friday around 8 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n While the exact formula remains unknown and changes from week to week, analysts like xponentcrisis<\/a> have been crunching the data to give the community a better idea.<\/p>\n The two biggest drivers of points so far have been portfolio value and the number of keyholders<\/strong> an account has.<\/p>\n It\u2019s likely that portfolio value will continue to be prioritized as the team looks to boost TVL.<\/p>\n Now that we\u2019ve covered setting up an account and how the points work, let\u2019s move on to strategies to maximize your potential airdrop.<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve found that friend.tech users can be broadly classified into four groups:<\/p>\n Your optimal strategy will depend on how much time and ETH you\u2019re willing to put in, so I\u2019m going to share some general tips.<\/p>\n Regardless of the size of your portfolio, your goal should be to deploy capital while reducing your downside risk, so spend your ETH wisely on keys that are likely to stick around for the duration of the airdrop campaign.<\/p>\n The 10% fee on trades means that changing your mind is expensive, as buying and selling a key at the same price leaves you with a 20% loss!<\/p>\n Owning more than four of your own keys is not advisable from a points perspective. <\/strong>Early whales like Vombatus sought to game the system by buying up their own keys, which led to the team cracking down on self-buyers.<\/p>\n It wouldn\u2019t be crypto without fake accounts and scammers, so always do some due diligence before buying any keys \u2013 check their Twitter profile, mutual followers, funding wallet etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n For those unfamiliar with the origin of the (3,3) meme, it emerged during the heady days of the 2021 bull market, when OlympusDAO was leading the \u2018DeFi 2.0<\/a>\u2019 movement.<\/p>\n The idea was simple \u2013 If nobody sold, prices would continue to rise and everyone would benefit. Of course, we all know how that turned out.\ud83d\ude2c<\/p>\n With points for self-buys being nerfed by the friendtech team, large farmers had to find a way to reallocate capital, which they did by exchanging their keys with each other, naturally leading to the (fren,fren) or (\ud83e\udd1d,\ud83e\udd1d) strategy that is currently favoured by many users.<\/p>\n This refers to two people buying each other’s keys with a loose commitment to hold for the duration of the airdrop campaign. For a more detailed explanation, check out 0xBreadguy\u2019s guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Picking the right people is vital to the strategy, as we\u2019ve already seen some strained bonds<\/a>.<\/p>\n If you choose to participate, here are some tips:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n I signed up back in August<\/a> purely out of curiosity, as I\u2019ve learned that dismissing new crypto projects without trying them out is usually detrimental to my wallet.<\/p>\n While I remain skeptical of the longevity of the platform beyond the airdrop, I\u2019ve managed to make a lot of new connections in the space, ranging from traders and NFT collectors to VCs and builders, many of whom I\u2019ve followed for a long time but never had the chance to interact with. Regardless of how the airdrop plays out, I consider that a win.<\/p>\n For the grinders looking to work their way up the leaderboard, 0x5f Capital<\/a> is a great account to follow. Keep engaging on the app and don\u2019t get discouraged if it takes a while for you to get noticed!<\/p>\n Those who have been reading DeFi Alpha for a while will know that I rarely recommend a product, but if you\u2019re planning to take the game seriously, consider joining 0xWildWizard<\/a>\u2019s Discord.<\/p>\n While the price of admission is steep (currently 0.84 ETH), it\u2019s an extremely active community of friendtech traders, grinders and whales, frequented by top accounts like dingaling, 0x5f Capital and Otto Suwen. Other members routinely feature among the most profitable traders on the platform. Full disclosure: I hold a key.<\/strong><\/p>\n This is probably the longest tutorial I\u2019ve written, and it\u2019s a lot to digest. Feel free to reach out in our Discord<\/a> if you have any questions and I hope you avoid some of the early mistakes I made.<\/p>\n Planning your exit strategy is as important as your farming plans. <\/strong>With the airdrop expected in February, it’s likely that users will start to derisk as the launch approaches. Do not sleep on your portfolio or you are likely to get dumped on!<\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, everything in this post is for informational purposes and is not a recommendation or endorsement of the platform. Only deposit what you\u2019re willing to lose\ud83e\udee1<\/p>\n Enjoy!<\/p>\n Here are some links to tools and data pages that I find useful.<\/p>\n Disclaimer: This is neither a recommendation nor an endorsement to buy or trade any token(s). yyctrader has been using friend.tech since August and holds many of the keys mentioned. friend.tech is a social trading app that has drawn in users from all corners of crypto, from DeFi and coin traders to NFT collectors, builders and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[274,273,272,244,266,271,268,270,269,267],"class_list":["post-174909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-de-fi","tag-crypto-finance","tag-decentralized-finance","tag-liquidity","tag-metamask","tag-pancake","tag-slippage","tag-sushiswap","tag-tronlink","tag-trust-wallet","tag-uniswap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174909"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174916,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174909\/revisions\/174916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dripp.zone\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What Is friend.tech?<\/h2>\n
![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2Ff7df4e411427178204df57ecd2952a590c220584-1092x496.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
The Airdrop<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F46bd33719b062a53de2b56fa181bd572841a281a-576x410.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
<\/figure>\n![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F4dec9a930413563175dce31ab2036949d98709c2-752x412.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
<\/figure>\n\n
Onboarding<\/h2>\n
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![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2Fb652f4d7cfc5337b8d33b7dca0d2181c6595ce52-437x353.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
<\/figure>\n![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F459706ca9237de7e38336141c1c3370d1beb40a6-924x203.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
<\/figure>\nPricing and Fees<\/h2>\n
![\"Bonding](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F3d926362497ce9723ba241df54cf3914bf9a4217-1600x1331.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
Points System<\/h2>\n
![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2Fd1a48765c4b5eaf0ed49b6645cc66f81f62f419a-654x607.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
<\/figure>\n\n
Farming Strategy<\/h2>\n
![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F545e047b556b0b53b2676df8caa1b06297032a96-648x159.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
<\/figure>\nThe Return Of (3,3)<\/h2>\n
![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F3aced25a380cdc3307c31f8a757857ad3791e7c6-696x960.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
\n
![\"How](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2F948c35ec0b8590b14addbea56352d006795d992c-888x231.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n
![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2Ff2ae71897135661e8bcfb7c1babd670674488955-1600x1233.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
![\"the-defiant\"](\"https:\/\/thedefiant.io\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.sanity.io%2Fimages%2F6oftkxoa%2Fproduction%2Fb3dd6cf4ecf524f7c42693168f95b9a0a34ae2c9-587x140.jpg&w=828&q=75\")
<\/figure>\nUseful Links<\/h2>\n
Tools<\/h3>\n
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Data<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"