This Week on Crypto Twitter: Friend.tech Bids Farewell, Trump Hints at World Liberty Project

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Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt

Degens had plenty to sink their teeth into last week on Crypto Twitter, with surprise developments emerging from numerous high-profile projects in the space.

At the top of the week, Friend.tech, the once-red-hot decentralized social network with financial incentives, announced that development of the project had effectively ceased after months of flagging momentum.

Admin and ownership parameters have been set to 0x000…000 to prevent any changes to their fees or functionality in the future.
This change does not affect the separate web client operated at DeFi Daily News which will continue to function as is. No fees from either…
— friend.tech (@friendtech) September 8, 2024

Backlash to the announcement was swift, given the tens of millions of dollars raked in by the so-called “SocialFi” experiment over its brief history—and the stigma in crypto against abandoning projects.

yikes
could have allowed for a community takeover but naw
just crush the hopes of the people who believed the most and were still using the cursed app in spite of the team’s failures https://t.co/tZLIqPbnHf
— scoopy trooples (@scupytrooples) September 9, 2024

Friend.tech’s team later came back online to clarify that the project wasn’t shutting down and would remain functional. But many degens didn’t care. The creators were splitting, and that was the only signal they cared about.

Meanwhile, over on the national political stage, crypto enthusiasts once again appeared to overestimate their influence during a week that was dominated by former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’ first and likely only live presidential debate.

Crypto lobbyists and fundraisers pushed hard to get a crypto-related question featured by ABC in the televised event, but their demands went unheeded. Neither crypto nor Bitcoin was mentioned once during the 90-minute session.

That result—while perhaps not unexpected—appeared to surprise degens, who waged nearly a million dollars on crypto betting site Polymarket over whether digital assets would be discussed during the high-stakes showdown.

Bitcoin was not brought up once during the debate.
The moderators should be fired.
— Bitstein (@bitstein) September 11, 2024

But they would not be disappointed for long. On Thursday, two days after the debate, Trump announced that his family’s long-rumored DeFi project, World Liberty Financial, will launch on Monday via a Twitter Spaces event co-hosted by Rug Radio, Decrypt’s sister company.

In the teaser, Trump said that the project will “embrace the future with crypto, and [leave] the slow and outdated big banks behind,” a framing that some—including crypto attorney Gabe Shapiro, who previously advised the project—noted would be unthinkable coming from the former president just months ago.

would you have predicted Trump saying ‘leave behind slow and outdated big banks banks for DeFi’ 12 or even 6 months go? pretty wild. . . https://t.co/XqgZuHxYNC
— _gabrielShapir0 (@lex_node) September 12, 2024

As to be expected on CT, though, even among those supportive of Trump’s embrace of crypto, there were qualms.

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.

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### Conclusion ###
In conclusion, the past week on Crypto Twitter was filled with unexpected twists and turns, showcasing the dynamic nature of the cryptocurrency space. From the abrupt halting of development on Friend.tech to the lack of crypto-related discussions in a high-profile political debate, degens experienced a rollercoaster of emotions.

However, the highlight of the week was the announcement of Trump’s DeFi project, World Liberty Financial, signaling a shift towards embracing crypto over traditional banking systems. This unexpected move surprised many, indicating the evolving landscape of digital assets and their integration into mainstream conversations.

As the week came to a close, it was evident that the crypto community continues to influence and adapt to the ever-changing world of decentralized finance. Stay tuned for more updates and trends in the world of crypto by visiting [DeFi Daily News](http://defi-daily.com). Happy crypto trading!

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