Updated on:12/06/2025 05:22 PM 
In a significant development for the Ethereum ecosystem, Brian Armstrong, CEO of leading cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has highlighted how the rapidly growing decentralized social application Friend.tech is accelerating the adoption of Base, the company's Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution.
Armstrong made these observations in an August 23 post on X (formerly Twitter), where he responded to insights shared by Coinbase Head of Protocols Jesse Pollack. According to the Coinbase executive, Base network achieved an impressive average of 16 transactions per second (TPS) on August 21, marking a milestone that surpassed Ethereum's mainnet transaction volume during the same period.
The remarkable transaction throughput on Base appears closely correlated with the viral growth and increasing popularity of Friend.tech, Armstrong suggested, pointing to the platform's role in driving network activity.
Friend.tech has emerged as one of the most talked-about applications in the decentralized social media space since its launch, attracting significant attention from the crypto community in just under two weeks. The platform introduces a novel concept where users can purchase and trade "Keys" associated with other users' social media profiles.
These digital Keys represent more than just profile access—they grant holders exclusive entry to private in-app chatrooms and provide a stake in the associated user's token value. This innovative tokenomics model has created a new paradigm for social media monetization and community engagement.
The platform's growth metrics are nothing short of extraordinary. According to Dune Analytics data, Friend.tech has quickly amassed a total trading volume of 43,064.8 ETH, equivalent to over $70 million, facilitated through approximately 1.8 million transactions since its inception.
Additional insights from DeFillama reveal Friend.tech's remarkable standing within the broader crypto economy. The platform has secured its position among the industry's top five fee generators, collecting approximately $5 million in transaction fees over the past week alone. This impressive revenue performance places it ahead of well-established decentralized finance protocols like MakerDao and even surpasses major layer-1 blockchain networks such as Bitcoin in terms of fee generation.
Despite its initial success, Friend.tech is not without challenges. Evan Van Ness, a respected researcher in the Ethereum community, has highlighted growing concerns about the platform's increasing susceptibility to bot activity and spam. These issues may potentially hinder genuine user engagement and make it more difficult for individuals without substantial social media influence to derive meaningful income from the platform.
Nevertheless, the application has already garnered significant attention from high-profile users, including NBA stars and numerous cryptocurrency influencers. The platform's potential has also attracted investment from prominent venture capital firm Paradigm, suggesting strong confidence in its long-term viability and innovation within the decentralized social media landscape.
Friend.tech's rapid rise and impact on Base network performance highlight the growing importance of social tokens and decentralized applications in driving mainstream blockchain adoption. As more innovative applications emerge that combine social media functionality with token economies, we may be witnessing the early stages of a new paradigm for digital interaction and value exchange.
The success of platforms like Friend.tech also underscores the increasing significance of layer-2 scaling solutions like Base in addressing Ethereum's throughput limitations while maintaining security and decentralization principles.
