OFR: Inspired by Friend Tech and Unibot, how to find the killer app

Author: OFR XIN

If you are a rational and objective investor, you should feel that we no longer need more infrastructure projects, at least not for now.

The current infrastructure is sufficient for the next bull market and even the one after that (if there is one).

In terms of scalability - we have Solana; in terms of legitimacy - we have ETH L2 Rollups and several zkEVMs launching soon; for those pursuing decentralization, the Ethereum main chain is available; and for composability - both Cosmos and Polkadot are good choices.

We have the essentials needed to create DApps, along with dozens of recently popular Raas or AppChain services. Whether you want to build applications or chains, your issue is definitely not a lack of infrastructure or development tools.

But the question is: where are the killer DApps?

In the last cycle, DeFi saved the crypto space. The AMM Dex + asset pool lending + liquidity mining model, along with various tweaks based on these basic models, could be replicated across dozens of new chains.

Now that these DeFi suites have appeared on new chains, what else can we play with? Are we going to stick to the same old three things in the new cycle?

Recently, some emerging applications have inspired me significantly, so let's dive in:

Meme Coin

Meme coins like $Pepe or $Bitcoin (HarryPotterObamaSonic10 Inu) are important innovations during bear markets. They have spawned a subculture that offers a more retail-friendly token mechanism compared to VC-backed projects that often have valuations in the billions.

Of course, some infrastructure projects can also be defined as meme coins. If coins like Pepe satisfy the emotional value of retail investors getting rich, then infrastructure "memes" alleviate VCs' investment anxiety, especially since they feel they missed out on investing in major chains (like Solana, Near, etc.) in the last cycle and need to make up for it this time by investing in infrastructure.

Everyone thinks ZK is hard because it requires strong mathematical skills, but creating a meme is not that simple either. To create a viral cultural symbol is a very challenging task because there is no fixed template to reference or apply. To become a successful meme creator, one must have a thorough understanding of a certain community subculture, similar to the degen community, and the aura of losers, while also being able to design eye-catching promotional materials for the community.

In my view, meme coins represent the rise of another form of crypto cultural symbol after avatar NFTs.

Friend.tech (hereinafter referred to as "FT")

In most industry analyses, FT is usually referred to as a social product. However, I believe it is a financial product based on the social user network of Twitter (or X). It does not create new social relationships or introduce any new communication patterns. Social products should be like QQ or WeChat, which change the form and manner of communication between people, and clearly, FT has not achieved this nor does it intend to.

From a first-principles perspective, this model can actually be applied to design some new products. Essentially, it adds token incentives to Twitter's social network, which in a way is providing token incentives to Twitter's social network in a community form before Twitter itself issues tokens (which may never happen). The recent "Tip Coin" project has actually captured the essence of FT's product and is starting to stand out in the community.

Telegram Bots

The starting point of the Unibot product is quite simple; many teams like Uniwhales and Whalesalert may have already created similar products. However, it has improvements in two key areas:

First, its features meet the essential needs of meme traders in the crypto space. Some new features introduced by Unibots include limit orders, copy trading, and privacy trading routing, etc. While many teams have recently been talking about doing "Intents," Unibots has quietly been providing Intent services with tens of thousands of requests daily.

Second, Unibot's token design has some cleverness, linking revenue to the overall prosperity of the ecosystem and relating it to product functionality, with a relatively reasonable token distribution.

Unibots also leverages the essential Telegram traffic for crypto users to create a useful product, flowing back from TG's traffic.

What conclusions can we draw from the above cases?

If we consider product strength, subcultural creativity, and good token models as a triangle (which you in the crypto space love to use various triangle metaphors), successful projects usually possess at least two of these elements. A project needs to acquire users and ensure long-term survival, while having all three elements is necessary.

Using the examples mentioned earlier, meme coins have sparked subcultural frenzy and possess well-designed token mechanisms, but currently lack usable products.

FT's product has been exceptionally successful in issuing tokens, although the product's UI/UX has issues, we can say that the overall product strategy is successful. The token model for the product has also performed well for early-stage project launches, but there has been insufficient momentum since then, and no new solutions have been seen yet. On the subcultural level, FT has not yet ventured into this area.

Unibot's product strength and functionality are well-executed, and its token model is reasonable. However, the users of its product have not yet formed a cultural sense of belonging to the product, focusing more on the product and the token itself. How to make users embrace Unibot as a cultural symbol is definitely a topic worth exploring for the Unibot team.

What kind of products and builders do I expect?

Product and growth strategy: From day zero, there should be a plan for user acquisition, such as how to leverage Twitter or Telegram traffic to drive user growth, how to prevent the product from being blocked by Twitter, and how to enable rapid product iteration with a lower user entry threshold. I must say FT has also been clever in this regard, such as using PWA to avoid the hassle of App Store listings, etc. The product form does not necessarily mean creating a Twitter plugin or Telegram bot, but rather finding a suitable way to bring users from these two largest user group applications.

Token design: A well-designed token distribution structure that balances sellers and buyers, with the token value linked to the product's revenue and value, providing opportunities for users at different stages to profit.

Creativity and subculture shaping: The team itself must understand some of the subcultural language symbols and consciousness representations of the community. Similar to Pepe and Doge, which are long-standing meme icons on Reddit, new meme creation and incorporation, including AI-assisted creation, can all be factors for growth.

Based on these criteria, I hope more DApp builders will join the DApp development community. I do not want to label it merely as another buzzword or category. If I had to, I might use general crypto industry terms like "TwitterFi," "TelegramFi," or "MemeFi."

In some earlier fields, such as the recently discussed on-chain gaming or autonomous worlds, I remain very optimistic and believe that successful products will emerge from the community. However, it takes time, and good signs are already present, with many young and creative developers active in the Onchain Gaming community. The current issue is that the atmosphere in the small circle is a bit intense, and for non-hardcore gamers, especially those unfamiliar with crypto, the learning curve is too steep.

I am very willing to collaborate with builders in Onchain Gaming to explore more user-friendly and simplified user acquisition methods. Another aspect I feel is somewhat lacking is token design; there is very little discussion about token design in the Onchain Gaming community, but I believe that a robust economic system is essential for successfully acquiring users and breaking out.

The best time to invest in Web3 is - now!

The characteristics of the bear market bottoming out in both primary and secondary markets are very evident. For example:

Projects that started at the end of the last bull market, many of which could not establish sufficient competitiveness or lacked enough operational funds, have either failed or shifted to other fields, such as artificial intelligence.
Hesitant traditional VCs and investment institutions that FOMO'd into the last bull market peak are now largely ignoring Web3 and are scrambling to invest in AI projects.
The market already has enough ZK and Infra narratives, and many application developers around me have transitioned to Infra, which I think indicates that infrastructure projects are basically saturated. So how will those large projects that raised billions at the end of the last bull market issue tokens? Can we rely solely on PUA and data farming? The key is that this is not the only project doing this; there are still double-digit projects yet to issue tokens, and each one wants to suck blood from the crypto secondary market. The current crypto space is already in the ICU; where is there so much blood to draw?
Only innovative applications can bring new narratives, new traffic, and new blood.