Farcaster Changes Hands Again: The Hottest Potato in the Decentralized World
The decentralized social protocol Farcaster has changed ownership for the third time in nine months, being described as a "hot potato" in the decentralized world. On October 15, 2026, Rish, co-founder of Neynar, announced that Network School, founded by Balaji Srinivasan, would take over Farcaster, including its application, protocol codebase, and related products. This followed Neynar's acquisition of Farcaster from its original creator, Merkle Manufactory, in January 2026.
Farcaster, which achieved a $1 billion valuation after a $150 million Series A round in 2024, saw its user activity and revenue decline sharply post-2025. Daily active users (DAU) dropped 40% from its peak of nearly 100,000, and monthly revenue fell to around $10,000. After taking over, Neynar pivoted Farcaster toward developers, but protocol revenue (including from Clanker) plummeted by 99% from Q1 to Q3 2026, leading to the search for a new owner.
Network School, Balaji Srinivasan's venture practicing his "network state" theory and recently valued at $2 billion, plans to rebrand Farcaster as the "Network State Protocol." Significant rule changes include requiring users to accept a "social smart contract" to mint an NFT for full access, implementing content moderation based on Singaporean public conduct codes, and introducing AI-assisted review with potential human verification.
These changes, particularly the centralized control over content and access via the dominant official app (formerly Warpcast), have sparked community debate. The repeated ownership transfers highlight a core tension in decentralized social networking: while the protocol layer is technically decentralized, control over the primary user application grants centralized power over the entire network's experience and direction. Each new owner brings a different vision, but all face the fundamental challenge of reviving a platform with declining users and revenue.
marsbit18m ago