Bitfinity Weekly: Making Friends
Welcome to Issue #123 of Bitfinity Weekly for our #BITFINIANS community. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, sign up here.
What's in Today's Email?
- Global Crypto News
- This Week in our Blog
- NFT Market Bytes
- Tweet of the Week
- Meme Time
- A Matter of Opinion
Global Crypto News
We Can't Be Friends: FriendTech, a SocialFi platform that allows users to trade 'keys' for access to influencers and private groups, is no longer being supported by a development team. The ownership of FriendTech's smart contracts were transferred to a burn address, locking the dApp in its current state forever. The protocol's currency token $FRIEND plummeted by 26.4% immediately following the FriendTech team's announcement.
Ripple Effect: Crypto asset management giant Grayscale announced the launch of the first U.S. XRP trust. The "closed-end" fund will offer accredited investors direct exposure to $XRP, the native token of the XRP Ledger blockchain, facilitated by blockchain giant Ripple. A trust faces fewer regulatory scrutiny than an ETF, as an ETF is marketed to retail investors; even so, a trust can become an ETF with regulatory approvals.
Going Native: Fractal Bitcoin, a Bitcoin layer that promises to "scale Bitcoin natively", has launched its mainnet. According to their website, Fractal uses the Bitcoin Core code itself to recursively scale Bitcoin, and maintains "self-replicating consistency" with Bitcoin's consensus, meaning all Fractal transactions and hashes can be correlated to activity on Bitcoin directly. UniSat, an early leader in the Bitcoin ecosystem (best known for their hot wallet and marketplace), is a core contributor to Fractal Bitcoin, and provides infrastructure support.
Crypto Round Table: Circle, the company behind the world's second-largest stablecoin ($USDC), is moving its headquarters from Ireland to New York City's One World Trade Center. According to CoinDesk, a ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held with NYC Mayor Eric Adams in attendance. Under Adams, who famously converted his first paychecks to crypto, New York City has grown to be a major crypto hub with many prominent blockchain companies and startups, such as Omni Network, using the city as their base.
Partnership Party : coNFT; by integrating with Bitfinity, coNFT will benefit from enhanced EVM compatibility and faster transaction times. BitU will now tap into Bitfinity’s EVM compatibility to unlock enhanced cross-chain functionality. Bitroot; Bitfinity’s Layer 2 solutions and Chain-Key cryptographic technology will enhance Bitroot's ability to introduce complex smart contract functionalities.
This Week in our Blog
This week's deep dive covers everything you need to know about oracles, an essential faciliator of sensitive information in the world of smart contracts.
Hans
Be sure to read this one! Blaze, our mascot, has been busy making friends that enhance Bitfinity as well as the crypto ecosystem. Learn all about our latest partnerships and exciting developments here:
Fred
NFT Market Bytes
Technical Win: A CryptoPunk valued at $1.5 million was acquired for $23,000 after a savvy trader took advantage of its listing on a defunct NFT platform. Its original owner fractionalized Punk #2386, allowing multiple investors to take partial ownership, on a now-dissolved platform called Niftex. The Punk was locked in escrow on an Ethereum smart contract, which sat dormant until a buyout feature was triggered this week for 0.001 $ETH per share, totaling to just 10 $ETH for full ownership. CryptoPunk #2386 is one of just 24 'ape' models in the collection, making it especially prized.
High Speed: U.S. crypto exchange Kraken is hosting a contest to give NFT holders an opportunity to showcase their PFPs on Williams Racing's U.S. Grand Prix livery. The contest, now in its second year, will allow the holders of a Williams Racing affiliated PFP collection to submit their NFT to be incorporated into the rear wing design of Formula One drivers Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto's cars.
United Assets: The United Kingdom introduced a landmark bill to Parliament on Wednesday, aiming to clarify the legal status of digital assets. The proposed bill would recognize crypto, as well as NFTs, as personal property under English and Welsh law. If passed, the bill will create a third category for personal property, making the U.K. one of the first countries to recognize digital properties in law.
Tweet of the Week
👋 Attention Devs! We've just launched a brand new Getting Started guide in Bitfinity's tech docs! ⚡
— Bitfinity Network (@bitfinitynet) September 11, 2024
If you're new to the #EVM and ready to deploy your first #Solidity smart contract, this is the perfect place to begin.
🔗 Dive in now: https://t.co/IwEku3265D
Meme Time
A Matter of Opinion
The sudden 'abandonment' of FriendTech by its development team highlights the volatility and challenges that new Web3 projects face. Once considered the leading SocialFi platform, FriendTech saw a dramatic drop in engagement in the months following its launch and $FRIEND token distribution. While the lackluster performance of the platform may have not been the sole reason for the team's dissolvement, this rapid rise and fall underscores a familiar narrative in the DeFi world: novelty can attract users, but sustainability requires more than hype.
In the case of FriendTech, its initial popularity stemmed from the innovative idea of letting users tokenize their social connections. It offered users a way to buy and trade "shares" in influential personalities, linking monetary value to social interactions. For a brief moment, its novelty captured the imagination of the Web3 community. However, as we have seen with other DeFi projects, keeping users engaged long term is not easy. The allure of speculation fades, and the platform struggled to maintain momentum once the hype died down.
What FriendTech's story teaches us is that even the most innovative ideas need to think beyond early-stage excitement. Sustained user engagement, clear value propositions, and a strong community focus are crucial to long-term success in the crypto world. Simply building a unique feature set isn’t enough; projects must evolve in response to user needs and maintain clear incentives for participation.
Furthermore, this case exposes the broader issue of volatility in the DeFi space. Rapid booms and busts are common, but without stability, many platforms face the risk of disappearing just as quickly as they appeared. Price volatility, while exciting for traders, can erode trust in DeFi’s potential to create lasting financial ecosystems. For the next generation of decentralized platforms to succeed, they must address these challenges head-on—creating more than a fleeting user experience and ensuring that a foundation is built for long-term growth.
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