Friend.tech’s FRIEND token jumped more than 1,300% in 24 hours after Taiwanese-American trader Jeffrey Huang, better known online as Machi Big Brother, publicly proposed a $1 million offer to acquire the dormant SocialFi platform from co-founder Racer and early backer Paradigm and relaunch it as a community-led project.
At 11:53 UTC on August 27, FRIEND was trading near $0.03982, up 1,356.03% over 24 hours, with $1.41 million in 24-hour trading volume and a market capitalization of $643.17K, according to CoinMarketCap data. That put its 24-hour trading volume at about 219.22% of its market capitalization, meaning reported trading activity was more than twice the token’s total market value.
The rally was significantly larger than moves in major cryptocurrencies during the same period. Bitcoin traded near the $81,000 short-term holder cost basis, per Glassnode figures cited by The Crypto Times, while FRIEND, one of crypto’s quietest leftover tokens from the 2023 to 2024 SocialFi cycle, became the session’s most watched speculative trade.
What Machi Actually Proposed
The catalyst came from Huang’s own X account. In an X post on Thursday, he wrote that he should buy Friendtech from Racer and Paradigm and relaunch it on Robinhood, later adding that a revived version could feature “friends backed by RWAs.” On-chain trackers said Huang told the market Friend.tech’s market capitalization had fallen below $300,000 when he floated the $1 million offer to the co-founder and lead investor.
Under his framing, the existing FRIEND contract on Base would remain in use, and the platform would be handed back to the community for a fresh push. Neither Friend.tech nor Paradigm has confirmed receipt of an offer or opened acquisition talks as of publication. Until that changes, the market is pricing a proposal rather than a closed transaction.
The $16 Million Bag Behind the $1 Million Bid
The headline offer is only half the story. Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain previously flagged on September 9, 2024 that Huang spent about 5,200 ETH, worth roughly $16.7 million at the time, to accumulate around 11 million FRIEND tokens between May and August 2024. That stack is now worth approximately $500,000 at current prices, leaving an unrealized loss of more than $16 million on the position, according to an update on Thursday.
On-chain data referenced by Lookonchain also shows Huang moved his 11 million FRIEND stack to a separate wallet five days before making the offer public, and added another 124,873 tokens for about $5,700. The sequence, positioning first and announcement second, is not disputed on-chain, but neither he nor the Friend.tech team has publicly framed it as anything more than portfolio management.
This is not Huang’s first attempt to backstop the token. In September 2024, Friend.tech’s developer team renounced control over the platform’s smart contracts, after which activity collapsed and Machi’s FRIEND position lost roughly 96% of its dollar value.
Why the Rally Was So Large
FRIEND entered the session with a relatively small market capitalization and limited trading activity compared with larger cryptocurrencies. CoinMarketCap data showed a market capitalization of $643.17K and $1.41 million in 24-hour trading volume at 11:53 UTC.
When trading volume is large relative to a token’s market capitalization, relatively small changes in buying or selling demand can result in substantial price movements, particularly in lower-capitalization assets.
A $1 million acquisition proposal was larger than FRIEND’s reported market capitalization at the time of the move. The resulting price increase shows how quickly sentiment around a low-capitalization token can change following a prominent social-media announcement.
For context, similar low-float rallies have played out repeatedly in recent weeks. A GTA 6 leak-linked token surged 819% in seven days, per The Crypto Times, and unofficial Pitbull-branded meme coins gained over 100% in a single day, per The Crypto Times.
Background: Friend.tech and the Original SocialFi Bet
Friend.tech launched on Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network Base on August 11, 2023, as a token-gated social app. Users bought “keys” tied to individual X accounts to unlock private chats with the associated user, with a 5% fee applied on every trade and split between the platform and the key owner.
The project raised a seed round from crypto venture firm Paradigm, briefly outpaced Ethereum in daily fees, and became one of Base’s earliest breakout apps. Activity then faded through 2024, and following the FRIEND airdrop and V2 launch on May 3, 2024, the token collapsed from an intraday high of $169 to around $2.5 within hours.
According to Dune Analytics data, Friend.tech generated more than $80 million in cumulative fees over its lifetime before the team’s September 2024 decision to renounce smart contract control. The FRIEND token’s all-time high remains $3.26 from May 2024, and CoinGecko currently shows the token roughly 98.8% below that level even after Thursday’s move.
Machi’s Wider Trading Backdrop
Huang’s FRIEND position sits inside a much larger high-leverage trading track record. Since October 2025, on-chain trackers have logged more than 145 liquidations on Hyperliquid tied to his wallets, with cumulative realized losses on perpetual futures climbing above $77 million by May 2026, as covered by The Crypto Times.
In August 2026, he sold a Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT at a 75.7% loss to keep a leveraged ETH long open, according to earlier The Crypto Times reporting. Two days ago, Lookonchain flagged that his account balance, which had earlier fallen below $60,000, has since grown almost 200 times, with open positions of about 23,350 ETH and 668 BTC, worth roughly $113 million in aggregate.
The FRIEND acquisition attempt, in that context, reads less like a strategic buyout and more like an effort to recapitalize a trade that has been underwater for close to two years.
What to Watch Next
The near-term question is whether Huang’s proposal develops into an actual acquisition discussion. If Racer or Paradigm publicly acknowledges the proposal or opens formal negotiations, the acquisition story could develop further. If the proposal is not pursued and trading activity declines, FRIEND could give back some or all of its recent gains, particularly given its relatively small market capitalization and trading depth.
FRIEND remains far below its 2024 highs despite Thursday’s rally. Lookonchain’s figures also indicate that a large share of the tracked token supply is concentrated in a small number of wallets.
The proposed acquisition therefore does not by itself resolve the underlying question of whether Friend.tech can rebuild user activity and sustain demand for the FRIEND token if the platform is relaunched.
Also Read: Kylie Jenner’s X Account Allegedly Hacked to Promote $KYLIE Token, Market Cap Crashes 90%
