In a notable surge on Coinbase’s Layer 2 network, Base, a Tomagotchi-like game called Fren Pet is making waves. DEX Screener reports that the top trending token pair on Monday was Fren Pet against wrapped ETH.
Over the weekend, Fren Pet experienced a staggering increase, skyrocketing from $0.05 on Nov. 17 to a peak of $1.9 on Nov. 20. Despite some retracement, the token was still trading at approximately $1.3 on Monday afternoon Eastern time.
The remarkable rise of Fren Pet lends credence to the idea that non-financial use cases can thrive within the realm of crypto. Friendtech, a social media app also operating on the Base network, recently garnered attention by amassing over 800,000 traders and generating $24 million in fees in just three months.
Fren Pet / WETH secured the fourth position among the most-traded token pairs on Base on Monday, witnessing a transaction volume of $3.5 million and involving over 2,900 wallets.
The game operates on a simple premise where users earn points and ascend a leaderboard by diligently feeding their virtual pets, earning ETH rewards in return. The virtual pet must be regularly fed to avoid demise, reminiscent of the iconic 90s toy, the Tomagotchi.
The distribution of FP tokens had an initial phase through a baseSwap pool, with a buy limit of $0.8 cents per player and a total market cap of $1,600. Each player could obtain a maximum of 5,000 FP tokens. Notably, the project’s website attests that the team did not pre-receive any tokens; all tokens in their possession were acquired through legitimate means.
BaseSwap imposes a 5% tax on every transaction involving FP tokens, with the breakdown allocating 2% to players, 2% to developers, and 1% contributing to liquidity provision to bolster the FP economy.
While Friendtech enjoyed a robust beginning, daily transactions have witnessed a significant decline, nearing 90% from its peak in September, as per data from Dune Analytics.
The staying power of Fren Pet remains to be seen, but given that Coinbase only announced the project three days ago, it could potentially retain momentum in the near term.
