Floki developers today introduced a trading bot tool that allows FLOKI holders to trade any token on the BNB Chain network, the developers told CoinDesk in a Telegram interview.
The Telegram-based bot will initially be available to a small number of users during a beta testing period to find and resolve any technical bugs. Developer B said public availability is expected in “mid-June.”
B said the service will later be expanded to the Ethereum and Base blockchains. Developers expect the service to increase demand for FLOKI tokens, because users will need to hold the coin to use the bot.
The bot charges a 1% fee on every transaction and 50% of the collected fees will be used to buy FLOKI on the open market, contributing to buying pressure.
The product is the latest release in a line of utility tools and a metaverse that make part of the Floki ecosystem. The token was initially launched in 2021 as a meme coin themed after the Shiba Inu dog breed. It has since rebranded as a utility token that fuels Floki-based protocols and products.
Telegram-based trading bots started to gain popularity in early 2023 with the launch of Unibot. These bots allow users to punt on tokens as easily as they can chat to each other on the messaging app.
The appeal of such products is likely due to the ease of usage compared to a decentralized exchange, such as Uniswap, where users have to continually log in to their wallet, cross-check if all token information is correct, and encounter high fees to ensure their trades go through.
Meme coin projects such as Solana-based Bonk (BONK) have previously launched their own trading bots, which have proven popular among their community. Bonk’s BonkBot, for instance, was responsible for up to 70% of all on-chain trades on Solana at one point, B said, contributing to over $1 million in buying pressure to BONK monthly.
FLOKI prices are up 17% in the past 24 hours, data shows. The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20) has gained 0.27%.
Edited by Sheldon Reback.