According to CoinDesk, a well-known Friend.Tech user, @Vombatus_eth, sold 850 ether (ETH) worth of keys on Monday before moving to New Bitcoin City, a similar social app built on Bitcoin. Vombatus made approximately $1.5 million after selling 176 keys and still holds 150 keys on the platform. Friend.Tech allows users to issue 'keys' for access to closed group chats and quickly became one of the fastest-growing crypto platforms after its August launch, attracting millions of dollars in revenue from over 100,000 users in less than three weeks.
However, newer opportunities have slowed Friend.Tech's initial growth, and apps like New Bitcoin City are emerging as major contenders. Users like Vombatus are bringing their followers to the platform, helping it surpass $3 million in locked value on Monday. New Bitcoin City, which began as a gaming and arcade platform on Bitcoin in early August, released its social application in late September, targeting the social application market.
Developer @punk3700 told CoinDesk that bitcoin's usage in DeFi applications has been limited to tokenized representations of bitcoin on other chains, such as Ethereum or Solana. However, New Bitcoin City believes there is a gap for wealthy bitcoin holders to use their assets on interactive applications. The introduction of 'Bitcoin Request for Comment' (BRC-20) standards earlier this year allowed developers to issue tokens and build DeFi applications on Bitcoin. New Bitcoin City's popularity comes as bitcoin prices are on the rise, increasing about 20% in the past week due to the potential approval of a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S., which traders believe may drive demand for the asset.
