Tech
Friend.tech native tokens lose 50% after largest whale dumps
Last Updated: May 3, 2024 7:23pm EDT | 1 minute read
Friend.tech’s native token $FRIEND plunged 50% on May 3 after its debut as the largest whale sold its holdings. Meanwhile, users could not access tokens released via airdrop.
As the BaseScan data showswithin hours of the airdrop, the largest holder, “Murphys1d”, sold over 55,000 of the $FRIEND just issued.
This led to an immediate 53.3% drop in the token’s price from $3.26 to $1.30 at the time of writing.
Friend.tech Community Unable to access Airdrop
In addition to the sell-off, some users were unable to claim their airdrop, forcing them to watch helplessly as $FRIEND’s price plummeted. Cryptocurrency investor Luke Martin commented that this “just adds insult to injury.”
I watch the value of my airdrop go from 7 figs to 5 figs in the span of 2 hours as I keep refreshing the page trying to claim…still can’t claim.
Meanwhile I have to watch this guy cash out while my wallet doesn’t even charge.
Adds insult to injury 💀💀💀
— Luke Martin (@VentureCoinist) May 3, 2024
In a low liquidity environment, a few large orders can have a huge impact on the market price.
$FRIEND had only $0.01 in liquidity, leaving holders vulnerable.
The extremely low liquidity sparked outrage within the community.
“First you milk your users with commissions, then ask them to add liquidity so they can dump each other,” disgruntled User X mcSleuth commented.
Airdrop farmers continue to launch Plague tokens
The Friend.tech dump is just one example of this a professional airdrop farmer dumping on the markets. These “squatters” interact with emerging protocols solely for airdrop rewards, often with multiple wallets to increase rewards.
This comes at a high cost to the communities surrounding the targets of the protocol’s squatters. The dumps create strong selling pressure, causing legitimate users of the protocol to panic and even sell off their holdings, further exacerbating the problem.
In April 2024, Omni Network was similarly affected Sibilla farmers. Their native OMNI token dropped by 55% in less than 18 hours after launch, losing more than half of its market capitalization.
While these events can have a huge negative impact on price action, it is often only short-term. $FRIEND may struggle following this event, but its investment community may make it in the long run.