Farcaster Decentralized Social Network Bought by Ecosystem Developer Neynar
The Farcaster platform is being acquired by one of the network's top infra builders, – crypto startup Neynar.
No terms were disclosed for the deal, which comes months after the Farcaster's founders announced they were pivoting the company away from its social app ambitions toward building its wallet app. The Ethereum-based protocol had been last valued at $1 billion.
What's the Scoop?
- Ownership Transfer: Neynar will take over the Farcaster protocol, the Farcaster app, and Clanker, the Base-based AI token launchpad acquired by Farcaster last year. The transfer is expected to complete over the next few weeks.
- Founders Step Back: Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, former Coinbase executives who founded Farcaster parent company Merkle in 2020, had been shifting focus to a wallet app since December.
- Broader SocialFi Shift: The acquisition comes the day after Lens Protocol (from Aave) announced Mask Network would steward its future, and alongside Vitalik Buterin's pledge to fully return to decentralized social in 2026.
Bankless Take:
This week marks a clear turning point for decentralized social. With Lens moving to Mask Network and Farcaster to Neynar, both protocols are entering new chapters under teams focused on product utility over token speculation. Vitalik's recent post captures the shift well: too many crypto social projects have confused "creating price bubbles around creators" with innovation, rewarding existing social capital rather than content quality. Neynar's builder-first pitch particularly stands out to me given the parts of Farcaster which brought me the most joy was the culture of hobby software development that spurred a miniapp and vibe-coding craze mid last year.Whether these new stewards can solve decentralized social's distribution problem remains to be seen, but the pivot away from tokens being the prime export of these networks feels to be a necessary step.