<\/p>\n
This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, <\/em>subscribe<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Crypto\u2019s new viral app isn\u2019t very new at all.<\/p>\n Solana-based social project Clout saw its downloads take off after launching an iPhone app that lets users buy tokenized versions of social media profiles. This is very similar to the premise behind the viral 2023 app friend.tech, which was itself a rehashing of BitClout, a Crypto Twitter tokenization app that went viral in 2021. Friend.tech\u2019s founding team already stepped away<\/a> from the platform, while BitClout\u2019s founder was just charged with fraud<\/a> by the DOJ and the SEC.<\/p>\n Clout hasn\u2019t leaned away from its forefathers. The project posted a meme today riffing on Justin Timberlake\u2019s famous line as Sean Parker in The Social Network: \u201cDrop the \u2018Bit.\u2019 Just \u2018Clout.\u2019 It\u2019s cleaner.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIntegrity and healthy tokenomics!\u201d was Clout founder Ben Pasternak\u2019s reply when I asked him what sets his app apart.<\/p>\n At the time of writing, Clout was #34 on the App Store\u2019s finance chart. The app is so congested that I haven\u2019t been able to land a transaction all day. And Clout isn\u2019t the only so-called SocialFi app grabbing Solana users\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n Tribe.run \u2014 which is still in invite-only mode \u2014 has also seen some momentum for a tokenized X profile app that creates token-gated group chats called tribes. I managed to snag an invite and have been enjoying the app, which features a nostalgic Windows 98-esque design. Tribe comes with an airdrop feature built in where I was able to send some of my token to my group chat members. This feature is enabled by Solana zero-knowledge compression<\/a>.<\/p>\n When I asked Tribe founder Bill Zheng why he thinks his app can succeed where friend.tech, for instance, failed, he said the former app had a \u201cfundamental flaw\u201d in that creators had no incentive to stay engaged. Tribe employs a subscription model where tribe members must pay a certain amount of SOL to stay in the group chat \u2014 giving the tribe creators a reason to stick around.<\/p>\n Outside of Solana, Kaito AI has seen success with its Yaps platform that doles out points for users who are active \u2014 or who yap a lot, in internet parlance \u2014 on Crypto Twitter.\u00a0<\/p>\n SocialFi\u2019s resilience underscores the resilience of Elon Musk\u2019s social media platform. X remains the center of the online crypto world, and until that changes, crypto social apps will keep testing out new ways to monetize Crypto Twitter.<\/p>\n Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter<\/a> \u2014 market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
\n