Friend.Tech-fueled competition sets Pepe social media handle as prize

A competition being conducted using the web3 social media platform Friend.Tech is offering up a Pepe PEPE -3.95% social media handle as its prize. 

"I am the owner of the @pepe handle on Twitter / X, and builder of products like pepe.wtf, illiquid.xyz, cyborg.art and others," the account holder explained on Friend.Tech, going over the rules for the "The @Pepe Game." 

"I will transfer the @pepe Twitter/X account for free ($0) to the owner of the FT account that holds the highest amount of my Keys when @Pepe becomes #1," the account holder continued, dubbing the game a "schizophrenic experiment." The handle transfer will occur after of Pepe reaches the first spot in Top User by Friend.Tech Key value, based in ETH. 

Friend.Tech is a platform where people must own "keys" to gain access to someone's channel. The more people join a particular person's channel, the more expensive the key gets.

"The winner does not necessarily have to be the largest spender or the latest buyer - many different strategies can become a winning combination," the Pepe account holder said. "The rules of the game incentivize joining early."

Pepe key spikes

When a key is bought or sold, a 5% fee goes to the channel's owner, with Friend.Tech amassing over $12 million in fees for its 160,000 users as of Sept. 20.

Following the game's announcement on Friend.Tech, the Pepe key spiked 966%, from about $330 to $3,500, before settling at a price of over $1,900. The channel owner has received nearly $20,000 in platform fees, according to the Friend.Tech data tracker Octav.

The @pepe account on X is different from the @pepecoineth handle that's linked to the most popular Pepe memecoin.