In a strategic move, the decentralized social network, Friend.tech, has declared its departure from Coinbase’s Layer 2 blockchain Base. The platform unveiled its plans to transition to its proprietary network, Friendchain, as part of a collaboration with Conduit, a crypto infrastructure service provider.
The Transition to Friendchain
In a recent post on X, web3 social platform Friend.tech disclosed its intention to launch a new blockchain named “Friendchain,” thereby concluding its partnership with the Coinbase-incubated Base network. Friendchain, as described in the announcement, will utilize the recently introduced FRIEND token as a fully transferable gas token.
While the timeline for the network migration remains undisclosed, users can expect regular updates in the forthcoming months. It appears that the mainnet migration to Friendchain might span several months.
Background and Motivation
The decision to migrate doesn’t come as a complete surprise, given Friend.tech co-founder Racer’s prior expressions of dissatisfaction with Base in late May. In a now-unavailable post on X, Racer cited tensions between the Friend.tech team and Base’s community as a factor driving the transition.
After its launch in August 2023, Friend.tech quickly gained traction as one of the leading decentralized applications (dApps) on the Base network. However, user interest has waned in recent months, prompting the platform to explore new avenues.
Market Response
The announcement of the transition to Friendchain has had a notable impact on the FRIEND token’s value. Following Racer’s hints at a potential exit from Base, the token experienced a 20% decline. However, the confirmation of Friendchain led to a surge of over 17% in the token’s value, reaching $1 at its peak, according to CoinGecko data.
As of the latest update, the FRIEND token is valued at $0.93, reflecting an 8% increase in the past day. Despite the recent price surge, the token’s weekly performance remains in negative territory.
