# Funding Related Articles

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SociFi Dream Shattered? Farcaster Pivots to Bet on Wallet Track

Farcaster, a decentralized social network protocol, has announced a major strategic shift after 4.5 years, abandoning its "social-first" approach to adopt a "wallet-first" growth model. Co-founder Dan Romero acknowledged that despite initial success—such as a surge to 100,000 daily active users (DAU) in early 2024 driven by features like Frames and the DEGEN airdrop—user engagement and revenue sharply declined later that year. By October 2025, monthly revenue had dropped 99% from its peak. The platform will now prioritize building a high-quality wallet within its official app, Warpcast, focusing on the intersection of wallets and social interaction. The new user journey emphasizes wallet funding and utility as key activation points. Farcaster is also enhancing its financial infrastructure through the acquisition of token launch platform Clanker and offering incentives like a 10% reward on USDC deposits. Frames, interactive mini-apps within the social feed, enable "content as transaction" capabilities, allowing users to mint, trade, and pay directly in their feeds. Despite raising $150 million in a 2024 Series A round at a $1 billion valuation, the move has drawn criticism. Some argue it signals the end of the SocialFi dream and a return to a transaction-focused model reminiscent of the 2017 ICO era. Others note challenges in a competitive wallet market and potential feature bloat. Farcaster remains an open protocol, and users can choose alternative clients, but the shift underscores a broader industry reality: pure Web3 social networks may struggle without integrating high-value financial tools to drive user engagement and retention.

marsbit12/09 08:52

SociFi Dream Shattered? Farcaster Pivots to Bet on Wallet Track

marsbit12/09 08:52

Zama Public Sale Too Complicated? A Guide to Understanding Sealed-Bid Dutch Auctions

Zama, a fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) network that has raised $130 million, is conducting a sealed-bid Dutch auction for 10% of its ZAMA token supply. The auction, running from January 12–15, uses FHE to keep bids confidential, ensuring fairness with no front-running, bots, or gas wars. Participants convert stablecoins into encrypted assets before bidding. The clearing price is determined by accumulating demand from highest to lowest bids; those who bid above it get full allocation with refunds, those at the price get pro-rata shares, and those below are refunded. All purchased tokens are fully unlocked at claim. Zama’s mainnet is expected by year-end. The article also highlights ongoing guild tasks for community engagement before the token generation event.

Odaily星球日报12/09 02:45

Zama Public Sale Too Complicated? A Guide to Understanding Sealed-Bid Dutch Auctions

Odaily星球日报12/09 02:45

Valuation of $1 Billion, After Five Years of Exploration, Why Did It Suddenly 'Admit Defeat'?

After five years of development, $180 million in funding, and a valuation nearing $1 billion, Farcaster has officially conceded that its Web3 social strategy did not succeed. Co-founder Dan Romero announced a major pivot: abandoning the "social-first" approach to focus entirely on wallet development. Farcaster, launched in 2020, aimed to solve Web2 platform issues like centralized control, user data ownership, and creator monetization through a decentralized protocol. Despite initial traction in 2024—when monthly active users (MAU) briefly surged to 80,000—growth proved unsustainable. MAU later fell to under 20,000 by late 2025, with the platform failing to attract users beyond a highly specific crypto-native audience. Key challenges included high onboarding barriers, heavily insular content, and an inability to compete with mainstream social platforms like X or Instagram. As one observer noted, it’s “easier to add social features to a wallet than to add a wallet to a social product.” Data revealed that Farcaster’s built-in wallet—initially a supplementary feature—showed stronger growth, retention, and usage metrics than its social components. This shift toward wallet-centric utility reflects a broader realization: in Web3, financial tools like transactions, transfers, and token interactions represent a clearer path to product-market fit than social features alone. The company’s acquisition of token launch tool Clanker and integration of AI agent capabilities further signal its commitment to a wallet-driven future. While some long-time users expressed disappointment over the cultural shift, Farcaster’s team has made a pragmatic choice to prioritize sustainable utility over idealized social networking.

比推12/09 00:55

Valuation of $1 Billion, After Five Years of Exploration, Why Did It Suddenly 'Admit Defeat'?

比推12/09 00:55

Behind Bitcoin's Trillion-Dollar Market Cap: A 41-Person Development Team and a Fragile Funding Ecosystem

Bitcoin, with a peak market cap of $2.5 trillion, is maintained by only 41 core developers, supported by a fragile funding ecosystem of approximately $8.4 million annually. This decentralized development model relies on a small group of sponsors and donors, including organizations like Blockstream, Chaincode Labs, MIT DCI, Spiral, and OKX, among others. Despite Bitcoin’s massive valuation, its core development is highly centralized in Western countries, with 71% of code contributions coming from just 15 developers. Key challenges include over-reliance on a few donors—such as Jack Dorsey—funding instability during market downturns, and a significant lack of representation from Asian developers. The report calls for greater support from profitable crypto businesses to ensure sustainable development and broader geographical participation in maintaining the Bitcoin network.

比推12/08 17:16

Behind Bitcoin's Trillion-Dollar Market Cap: A 41-Person Development Team and a Fragile Funding Ecosystem

比推12/08 17:16

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