Before quickly reversing its decision, friend.tech sparked controversy by announcing that users of the application’s forks would not be eligible for future rewards. Was this an admission of weakness in the face of falling activity? Was this an admission of weakness in the face of falling activity
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friend.tech sparks controversy among its users
The app friend.tech has been in the news lately, particularly for its promise to bring a Web3 dimension to influencers, allowing them to sell fractional shares of their X profile. However, we saw this week that the initial hype is already tending to fizzle out, and this is characterised by a drop in activity on the platform.
In a controversial attempt to retain users on its platform, friend.tech published a surprising announcement on Monday evening. In a tweet that has since been deleted, the app said that in order to ensure the loyalty of its users, those who use protocol forks will no longer be eligible for future rewards:
Figure 1 – Tweet deleted by friend.tech
Naturally, this announcement has provoked strong reactions, given that such a decision runs counter to the philosophy of the ecosystem, within which many forks can appear. While some of these copies are obviously there to ride on the wave of fashion, this competition also encourages protocols to innovate in order to remain competitive.
Machine back in the face of discontent
Faced with the community’s displeasure, Racer, the friend.tech co-founder behind this pseudonym, quickly reversed his decision. He published a message of apology on X, which was also deleted.
He said that he was motivated by fear and that his statement was stupid. As a result, the ‘ban’ on using forks of the protocol can be considered null and void:
Figure 2 – Apology message from the co-founder of friend.tech
Whatever the future of the project, it’s interesting to note the speed at which these various actions have taken place, showing a certain haste on the part of the founding team. In fact, it took just 9 hours from the initial announcement to its cancellation, and then to the deletion of the various tweets in an attempt to erase the story
