What is SocialFi? Unpacking crypto’s answer to social media
The post What is SocialFi? Unpacking crypto’s answer to social media appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. SocialFi is having its moment. Since launching in August, Friend.tech has seen inflows of more than $420 million, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard. Meanwhile, the Web3 mobile social apps Phaver and RepubliK both announced fundraises last week. Hype surrounding crypto-native social media is nothing new, but a fresh crop of Web3 social apps are taking their swing at the entrenched social media giants. And as the incumbent Web2 social titans struggle with content moderation and fair creator payouts, founders and investors say they spy an opportunity. What is SocialFi? In short, SocialFi uses blockchain to monetize social interactions. SocialFi platforms use avenues built on top of crypto infrastructure, allowing content creators to cash in on their influence and users to earn rewards for scrolling. Industry participants say SocialFi presents a more desirable business model in comparison to that of today’s social media giants. “The normal revenue model is the users are the product,” Gary Henderson, creator of a Solana-native SocialFi app, said. “Here, we’re saying the users are our [clients] and we’re selling to our users and they’re supporting their favorite creators and we’re pulling a chunk of that condition out of the middle.” The most buzzy SocialFi app of the past few months is Friend.tech, which has inspired several spin-offs and accounts for 46% of all activity on Coinbase’s layer-2 app BASE, according to a Blockworks Research dashboard. Read more: Base protocol is spearheading ‘the next generation of the internet’: Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak Is Friend.tech the archetype for SocialFi apps? Among the sources Blockworks spoke to, there was a general consensus that Friend.tech has yet to prove its sustainability. For starters, the app is highly financialized. Friend.tech allows users to buy and sell tokenized “keys” that provide access to group chats with the creators behind X accounts. The…
The post What is SocialFi? Unpacking crypto’s answer to social media appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
SocialFi is having its moment. Since launching in August, Friend.tech has seen inflows of more than $420 million, according to a Dune Analytics dashboard. Meanwhile, the Web3 mobile social apps Phaver and RepubliK both announced fundraises last week. Hype surrounding crypto-native social media is nothing new, but a fresh crop of Web3 social apps are taking their swing at the entrenched social media giants. And as the incumbent Web2 social titans struggle with content moderation and fair creator payouts, founders and investors say they spy an opportunity. What is SocialFi? In short, SocialFi uses blockchain to monetize social interactions. SocialFi platforms use avenues built on top of crypto infrastructure, allowing content creators to cash in on their influence and users to earn rewards for scrolling. Industry participants say SocialFi presents a more desirable business model in comparison to that of today’s social media giants. “The normal revenue model is the users are the product,” Gary Henderson, creator of a Solana-native SocialFi app, said. “Here, we’re saying the users are our [clients] and we’re selling to our users and they’re supporting their favorite creators and we’re pulling a chunk of that condition out of the middle.” The most buzzy SocialFi app of the past few months is Friend.tech, which has inspired several spin-offs and accounts for 46% of all activity on Coinbase’s layer-2 app BASE, according to a Blockworks Research dashboard. Read more: Base protocol is spearheading ‘the next generation of the internet’: Coinbase’s Jesse Pollak Is Friend.tech the archetype for SocialFi apps? Among the sources Blockworks spoke to, there was a general consensus that Friend.tech has yet to prove its sustainability. For starters, the app is highly financialized. Friend.tech allows users to buy and sell tokenized “keys” that provide access to group chats with the creators behind X accounts. The…
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