On Friends, users link their Twitter accounts to onboard, and each user gets to create a group chat where they are the “creator.” Other users can search for creators and join their chats by minting the “keys” of that creator and becoming their key holder. They can participate in the chat as long as they own a single key of the creator.
The group chats are 1-to-many. While the creator can see messages from all key holders, key holders can’t see messages from each other, only from the creator. Keys are bought (minted) and sold (redeemed) against a bonding curve. The price (denominated in ETH) increases every time a new key is minted and decreases every time a key is redeemed based on the slope of the curve. Thus, if a user is interested in joining the chat of their favorite influencer, there is a natural incentive to be an early key holder. That said, the motivation to mint keys isn’t just to access the chat and speculate on the creator’s key price. Indeed, users can mint multiple keys of a creator with anticipation of later redeeming for a higher price. Each time a creator’s key is minted or redeemed, a 10% cut is removed from the proceeds, which then gets equally split among the creator and the protocol.
An exciting aspect of Friend.tech’s tech stack is its use of an embedded wallet (powered by Privy). While embedded wallets provide users with a fully self-custodial experience, they function differently than the consumer wallets (MetaMask, Rainbow, etc.) that many crypto natives are familiar with. The most significant difference is that with embedded wallets, users don’t have to explicitly download wallet software separately from the app. As their name suggests, embedded wallets provide a tightly integrated experience with the application. Namely, they are installed along with the app by default. This is powerful as it eases the onboarding process, particularly for people new to crypto who have never experienced self-custody. New users can skip many steps that consumer wallet users take (download wallet, save 12-word mnemonic, switch networks, connect the wallet to app, etc.) before interacting with a dApp.
