Decentralized Social Protocol Farcaster Raises $150M in Funding Round Led by Paradigm

farcaster funding Paradigm
Last updated:
Journalist
Journalist
Tanzeel Akhtar
About Author

Tanzeel Akhtar has been covering the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector since 2015. She has written for the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CoinDesk and Bitcoin Magazine.

Last updated:
Why Trust Cryptonews
Cryptonews has covered the cryptocurrency industry topics since 2017, aiming to provide informative insights to our readers. Our journalists and analysts have extensive experience in market analysis and blockchain technologies. We strive to maintain high editorial standards, focusing on factual accuracy and balanced reporting across all areas - from cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects to industry events, products, and technological developments. Our ongoing presence in the industry reflects our commitment to delivering relevant information in the evolving world of digital assets. Read more about Cryptonews
Ad DisclosureWe believe in full transparency with our readers. Some of our content includes affiliate links, and we may earn a commission through these partnerships.

Decentralized social media protocol Farcaster has raised $150 million in a funding round led by Paradigm with participation from venture capital fund 16z crypto, Haun, USV, Variant, Standard Crypto and more.

Farcaster launched by former Coinbase alumni, Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, has emerged as a prominent player among several burgeoning Twitter alternatives, both on-chain and off-chain.

In March, Farcaster was on the verge of reaching a valuation of $1 billion in its latest funding round. Back then Paradigm had not officially confirmed its participation in the funding round.

In a blog post, Romero shared that since going permissionless last October, Farcaster has seen 350,000 paid sign-ups and a 50 times increase in network activity.

Farcaster Plans in 2024

Farcaster has huge ambitions for the year ahead. Romero said there are hundreds of developers building on the protocol and a growing number of apps and frames for people to use.

The protocol will be focused on two things for the rest of the year: Growing daily active users and adding developer primitives to the protocol like channels and direct messaging.

In a separate announcement, Farcaster integrated the blockchain community Arbitrum, a layer 2 technology suite designed to scale Ethereum.

Arbitrum’s said to celebrate its integration on the decentralized centralized social protocol, the firm is hosting a “Frame It: A Buildathon” and event for developers to create Frames, with $500,000 in retroactive rewards.

This will allow users to build Frames with direct Arbitrum transaction support giving Frame builders and users direct access Arbitrum.

Farcaster’s Developer-First Ethos

This year Farcaster introduced Frames,

a feature that enables users to play games, mint non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and make purchases within the social media feed. Farcaster has experienced a significant surge in user activity since January, following the introduction of Frames.

Frames allow developers to embed interactive experiences within Farcaster posts, known as Casts. This concept quickly gained traction, thanks to the platform’s popularity among blockchain developers. Jesse Pollak, creator of Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network Base, echoed Romero’s sentiments.

The majority of Frames on the decentralized social protocol have been developed on Base, sharing a similar developer-first ethos.

Data from Dune Analytics shows the number of daily active users on the Farcaster network surged from around 5,000 on January 28 to over 249,000 on March 30.

More Articles

Blockchain News
ImmuneFi Founder Warns of Professional DeFi Hackers Making Hacking a Full-Time Career
Tim Hakki
Tim Hakki
2024-12-09 18:50:27
Blockchain News
Coinbase Addresses Account Restriction Concerns: ‘We’re Not Ignoring You’
Tim Hakki
Tim Hakki
2024-12-09 18:30:56
Crypto News in numbers
editors
Authors List + 66 More
2M+
Active Monthly Users Around the World
250+
Guides and Reviews Articles
8
Years on the Market
70
International Team Authors