Friend tech renames token to Keys amid speculation about SEC scrutiny
Date: 2023-08-22 Author: Karina Ziganova Categories: BLOCKCHAIN, IN WORLD
According to an August 21 announcement, decentralized social media platform Friend.tech has renamed its token "Keys" to better suit its purpose.
Friend.tech, a decentralized application based on the Base Layer-2 network, said that Shares' original name was a placeholder that needs to be changed to better reflect its purpose.
However, the name change has not yet been reflected in the chain, as the contract code still shows "buyShares" and "sellShares".
Social media decentralized applications allow users to transact with keys (formerly shares) associated with their preferred identities. These keys grant users access to private in-app chats and exclusive content with the respective face.
Since its launch on August 10, over 100,000 people have accessed the platform, and on August 1, the protocol generated over $21 million in fees.
Community links name change to SEC
Several members of the crypto community speculate that Friend.tech's recent actions are aimed at mitigating potential lawsuits from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
DeFi trader 0xSisyphus filled out the theory claiming an alternative interpretation of Friend.tech's statement;
“The original title was good, but we were advised by our legal team that it might not be a good idea to use words related to financial markets.”
Lawyer and Seedstarter founder Jesse Hines noted that the platform probably didn't get legal advice before choosing its previous placeholder name. Hines said:
"Anyone who has decided that 'stocks' is a placeholder name has either received no legal advice or has blatantly ignored legal advice."
Meanwhile, several others have argued that the name change may not prevent the SEC from prosecuting the platform if it chooses to do so. According to them, the financial regulator is currently targeting “everything that trades with value,” under the scrutiny of the crypto industry.
