Friend.tech Platform Loses Momentum as Crypto Craze Cools Off
The social marketplace Friend.tech, which gained popularity after its launch on Coinbase’s Base blockchain, is now experiencing a decline in activity. According to analysis firm Messari, the number of buys and sells on the platform has dropped significantly in the past week, along with the prices for shares or keys in listed influencers. Messari estimated that the number of traders has decreased by 40% from its peak. Users have also reported high fees and slow load times. The rapid rise and fall of activity on Friend.tech highlight the fickle nature of crypto crazes.
However, there might be a potential second act for the platform. Decrypt reported that creators of adult content from OnlyFans have started migrating to Friend.tech after the platform enabled the sending of photos to „key holders.“ This shift could bring new life to the struggling marketplace.
Binance Faces Regulatory Scrutiny and Makes Strategic Moves
Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the US, has been in the news recently for both positive and negative reasons. The exchange’s rapid expansion has caught the attention of regulators, leading to increased scrutiny and the need to adjust its operations.
Binance recently cut ties with five sanctioned Russian banks listed on its peer-to-peer service for transferring funds in rubles. This decision came shortly after the Wall Street Journal reported that Binance facilitated peer-to-peer trades involving Russian banks on Western blacklists. Additionally, Binance discontinued its crypto-backed debit card in Bahrain and Latin America due to Mastercard’s decision to end the program.
Despite these setbacks, Binance announced the launch of a new crypto-based program called Send Cash. This program allows users in nine Latin American countries to transfer money directly into friends’ and family members’ bank accounts in Colombia and Argentina. Binance also introduced „T+3“ daily options contracts for traders to bet on the BNB token over a three-day period.
Magnate Finance Potentially Engaged in Exit Scam
Magnate Finance, a lending and borrowing platform on Coinbase’s Base blockchain, is suspected of rug-pulling users out of $6.5 million. This incident occurred just hours after blockchain sleuth ZachXBT warned of a possible scam involving Magnate Finance. The project’s questionable ties to an earlier $4.8 million exit scam known as Solfire raise further concerns.
Latest Blockchain Upgrades and Developments
Polygon, the Ethereum scaling firm, has released a Chain Development Kit (CDK) to help developers build blockchains fueled by zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. This open-source codebase enables developers to create customizable layer 2 chains using Polygon’s ZK technology.
Shibarium, a layer-2 blockchain built on top of Ethereum for the Shiba Inu community and its SHIB coin, plans to reopen its network after experiencing network issues and a faulty bridge during its launch.
Farcaster, a protocol for decentralized social apps, including the Twitter-like Warpcast, has moved to Optimism’s OP Mainnet from the Goerli Ethereum testnet.
Interlay, a decentralized network designed to provide DeFi tooling for Bitcoin, has announced plans for BOB, a new Bitcoin layer-2 network compatible with Ethereum’s EVM software environment. This network will feature Rust smart contracts compatible with Bitcoin libraries such as Lightning and Ordinals.
PancakeSwap, a decentralized exchange, has expanded to the Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Linea, following its availability on multiple other platforms.
Deals and Grants
Prime Trust, a crypto custodian, has detailed in a bankruptcy-court filing how it faced financial difficulties. The company invested client funds in the failed UST stablecoin project and inadvertently provided incorrect addresses for cryptocurrency contributions, leading to the use of fiat currency to fulfill ETH withdrawal requests.
Binance Labs has invested in Delphinus Lab, an infrastructure provider leading the zkWASM space, which deploys ZK cryptography in WebAssembly environments.
Wintermute Trading has attempted to seek supporters from the Yearn Finance community to loan them 350 YFI tokens worth over $2 million. However, these advances were met with rejection as they were deemed unfair by Yearn voters.
Bitcoin Price Surges After SEC Ruling
The bitcoin price experienced a surge following a federal appeals court ruling that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must review its rejection of Grayscale Investments‘ attempt to convert its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into an ETF.
PEPE, a meme coin, saw a significant drop in price after changing rules in its multi-signature wallet, allowing transactions with only two out of eight addresses‘ approval. A large amount of tokens flowed out of the wallet into addresses associated with Binance, OKX, and other exchanges.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. What is Friend.tech?
Friend.tech is a social marketplace that gained popularity after its launch on Coinbase’s Base blockchain. However, activity on the platform has declined recently, and users have reported high fees and slow load times.
2. What strategic moves has Binance made recently?
Binance has faced regulatory scrutiny and has had to make adjustments to its operations. It cut ties with sanctioned Russian banks, discontinued its crypto-backed debit card in Bahrain and Latin America, and launched a new crypto-based program called Send Cash.
3. What suspicious activity has occurred with Magnate Finance?
Magnate Finance, a lending and borrowing platform, is suspected of engaging in an exit scam. Users lost approximately $6.5 million shortly after concerns were raised about the project’s legitimacy.
4. What recent developments have occurred in the blockchain space?
Polygon has released a Chain Development Kit (CDK) for developers to build blockchains with ZK proofs. Shibarium, Farcaster, Interlay, and PancakeSwap have also made advancements in their respective projects.
5. Why did the bitcoin price surge?
The bitcoin price experienced a surge after a federal appeals court ruled that the SEC must review its rejection of Grayscale Investments‘ attempt to convert its GBTC into an ETF.
6. What happened to the meme coin PEPE?
PEPE’s price dropped significantly after changing its multi-signature wallet rules, resulting in a large outflow of tokens to exchanges such as Binance and OKX.
