How to find value in FriendTech’s forked projects?

Original title: To Buy or Not to Buy: Seeking Value in SocialFi and FT Forks

Original author: IGNAS - DEFI RESEARCH

Original source:ignasdefi

Original compilation: Deep Chao TechFlow

When Friend Tech first launched, I shared that FT was just another way to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich, as the most popular crypto personalities ended up making the most money from FT.

I still largely maintain these views, as a large following on X almost guarantees some cash from trading fees. Ive made over $2,000 just trying these apps. But what blows my mind about FT is how seemingly unknown people on X achieved quite a bit. An example is Levi, whose Key costs about $8,000.

He starts with Proof of Friendship (a better word than 3, 3), buying new users cheap Keys and chatting with them to attract them to buy his Keys too. He eventually became the first full-time content creator on the FT and established the most valuable group chat on the FT.

His strategy involves purchasing the keys to the “most valuable” accounts, integrating “Alpha”, and sharing them with his key holders. He became the proxy key for all the most valuable accounts on FT. This is a risky bet because top-tier keys are expensive, so upfront capital is required to succeed. Other influencers and scammers have different strategies:

• Vombat is buying his own Key to increase the price and later selling it to his Key holder.

• Some offer users free access to blockchain services or potential airdrops.

• A lottery that gives away transaction fee income to one lucky Key holder.

• Build alternative UI and services on FT for Key holders, such as Friendex, FriendMex, etc.

I have a question for you: Do you really care about this? How much Alpha information can you get from FT that isnt readily available on X or the blog? Is access to blockchain services really important to you? Airdropping Key holders may be tempting, but it is difficult to determine the precise ROI of an airdrop.

These use cases are all designed to rationalize your purchase of Key, which will generate transaction volume and earn fees for the KOL.

Maybe to chat with KOLs? Maybe it’s chasing the FT airdrop, or just speculation on Key price increases. Regardless of the reason, it’s important to be clear about your true motivations and goals for using the app.

To be honest, Im still developing a value proposition for my Key holders. Currently, I am sharing speculative opportunities in real time, which I find is easier to do within a smaller group of friends. Interestingly, I feel more relaxed chatting on these SocialFi platforms, just like chatting with a group of friends online.

But how do I get to the top of the leaderboard? My wish is to become a Meme! Because a meme coin like Dogecoin doesn’t have any fundamentals attached to it.

Fork of Friendtech

Uniswap V2 is the most forked protocol in DeFi. To date, a total of 493 Uni forks have been launched. As the initial enthusiasm faded, most of them have fallen into obscurity, but a few like Pancakeswap and Sushiswap are still standing.

Is this also the fate of the FT fork? I believe so. While many forks will come and go, the few that manage to find their unique value proposition will survive.

Current FT fork ecosystem and its unique features:

Post Tech

In my opinion, Post Tech is the first fork I am bullish on. On September 21, its trading volume even exceeded that of FT, and PT still maintained a 23% trading share.

Heres what I like and dont like about PT.

• The UI is better and smoother (because the FT UI was so bad).

• I like that the chat feature is open to all Key holders and I dont feel like Im talking to myself when chatting. There are other forks as well.

• Built on Arbitrum, more suitable for deposits than Base<>Withdraw funds.

• The feed algorithm needs to be adjusted as only a few people are visible on my timeline.

• The incentives for holders are better here, because holding my Key can benefit the holder (get part of the transaction volume fee).

• The recommendation system incentivizes sharing to attract big KOLs to try it out.

Alpha - DeFi community for Bitcoin

I like Alpha because I am bullish on Bitcoin DeFi.

.Alpha is New Bitcoin City and the Bitcoin communitys attempt to provide an alternative to Friend tech. The logic is to unite Bitcoin, Ordinals and BRC-20 fans with influencers.

Its really cool. There is a DM function for one-to-one chat with the Key holder, and there is also a game section!

Alpha is closely tied to Bitcoin, much like the BRC-20 model. The basis of the system, Trustless Computer (TC), is an Optimisticrollup integrated with Bitcoin. But Alpha itself is built on NOS (similar to L3), with a block time of 2 seconds and a gas fee of 1 cent.

It sounds complicated, but there is an easy-to-use ETH<>NOS cross-chain bridge can be used. Keys and fees are paid in TC tokens, which you can bridge and trade on New Bitcoin DEX.

Fan Tech

You may have noticed that every chain has FT forks. Mantle is no exception.

Mantle L2s DeFi TVL, powered by Bybit, is only $37 million, so the chain needs something exciting to attract more users. Fan Tech is definitely an interesting choice.

Compared with FT, the main differences are as follows:

• Stake Generation Campaign: Introducing a bidding campaign for new accounts to prevent bots.

• Smooth UI/UX: including public/private posts, viewing accounts you follow on X, statistics page, dark mode, etc...

• Referral system: You earn 1% from taxes on share trades made by your invitees, as well as one share of their shares.

StarShares

Built on Avalanche, it is most similar to the original Friend Tech. At least thats what it seems at first glance. It also has a Feed section, just like on Twitter, where creators can share posts with their Key holders.

However, at this stage, StarShares value proposition lies in its access to Avalanche thought leaders such as Luigi, with whom I conducted an AMA about Avalanches endgame vision, and Avalanche founder Emin.

So if you want to promote something to the Avalanche community, StarShares may be your best choice.

Friendzy

Friendszy on Solana is currently one of the most disappointing FT forks to date. Its binding curve is very flat, resulting in little price movement when new buyers purchase Key.

However, the lack of chat functionality is a major flaw. So it falls short on two key features of SocialFi: social interaction and finance.

The value of SocialFi and FT forks

You may have noticed that I didnt compare these apps extensively based on differences in their transaction fees or bonding curves (except for Friendzy, which lacks a bonding curve).

Thats because I firmly believe these apps should prioritize social. Their primary goal should be to attract specific community members who feel a strong sense of connection to each other. These communities should have the ability to share financial and social value. This aspect is crucial to the success of the SocialFi fork.

Therefore, it is not surprising that forks occurred on different chains. However, do you feel connected to a specific L1 or L2? Maybe forks should be more targeted at the target group rather than the chain they build. Thats why overcoming Friend techs first-mover advantage here will be challenging.

This is why my Key price on FT is higher than other platforms. You can get Key at a lower price on the fork and ask me the same question. But the problem isnt just me. It’s also about the community as a whole, the potential of the app, and the airdrop.

Im also not suggesting that bonding curves or transaction fee percentages dont matter. They are important, otherwise Twitter would be enough. Speculation is the main motivation for most of us to join these apps. But competing around a few percentage points of transaction fee differences, referral programs, or token airdrop speculation won’t make or break an app.

Speculation serves as the initial motivation for new people to join and interact with the app. However, I believe (or at least hope) that the social interactions and relationships formed on these apps will ultimately be a key factor in their long-term success.

In the short term, the increasing number of new forks has a negative impact on Key/share price, as dollar amounts and attention are being over-dispersed.

If people lose money on the FT fork, this could lead to disillusionment with SocialFi. This is why I hope the FT fork will encourage valuable social interactions that go beyond speculation. I guess thats wishful thinking.

Overall, SocialFi is still in its early stages, attracting new audiences and providing something exciting to do in this bear market. Personally, I will continue to research, test dApps, and share my insights on Twitter and on apps like FT, PT, Alpha, Fan Tech, etc.