Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero has directly clarified that the protocol and app are not shutting down following its acquisition by Neynar.
This came amid rumors and speculation after the announcement that Neynar, a decentralized social infrastructure firm backed by Haun Ventures is acquiring Farcaster from Merkle Manufactory; the company behind it, founded by Romero and Varun Srinivasan.
Key Points from Romero’s Clarification
In a post on X, Romero addressed the rumors head-on: Farcaster is not shutting down: The protocol continues to function normally and will keep running. User stats remain solid: It had ~250,000 monthly active users (MAU) in December and over 100,000 funded wallets.
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New direction under Neynar: The acquirer plans to shift focus toward a more developer-oriented approach, maintaining the core infrastructure, Farcaster app, and related tools like Clanker (an AI token launchpad).
Investor capital return: Merkle plans to fully repay the ~$180 million raised from venture backers over the years, emphasizing responsible stewardship of funds.
Romero addressed side speculation about his recent home purchase in LA, stating it was funded by proceeds from Coinbase’s IPO where he previously worked, not project funds.
This move is seen as a rare “responsible” transition in crypto: founders stepping back after building the protocol, returning VC money, and handing stewardship to a aligned player in the ecosystem (Neynar, which has long built on Farcaster).
The acquisition was first announced around January 21, 2026, and has sparked both positive views (decentralization in action, clean exit) and some criticism/debate in crypto circles about past growth challenges or expectations.
Farcaster remains operational as a decentralized social protocol on Ethereum and Base, with no immediate changes for users. The focus now shifts to Neynar’s developer-first vision for its future evolution.
Neynar’s developer vision for Farcaster, following the acquisition from Merkle Manufactory, centers on transforming the protocol into a builder-first network that empowers developers and creators to efficiently turn ideas into sustainable, revenue-generating products.
This shift emphasizes infrastructure, tools, and an ecosystem designed specifically for builders, rather than prioritizing mass consumer growth or competing directly as a centralized social app like X or Threads.
Core Elements of the Vision
According to Neynar’s official announcement and related coverage: Enable builders to go from idea to recurring revenue: Neynar aims to create a streamlined path where developers can ideate, build, launch, and monetize applications on Farcaster.
This includes leveraging AI-assisted software generation, crypto-native payment rails for global transactions, asset issuance, and onchain interactions from day one, and a supportive community ecosystem.
Builder-focused ecosystem: Farcaster’s true strength lies in its long-cultivated community of builders often called the “scenius”. Neynar plans to accelerate this by making building easier—through better APIs, tooling, analytics, push notifications, and simplified processes for creating mini apps formerly known as Frames, AI agents, and other experiences.
The vision integrates: Advanced software generation (e.g., AI tools to speed up development). Crypto-native features (seamless onchain payments, tokens, and ecosystems). A deliberate focus on developers over broad user acquisition.
Products usable anywhere: Applications built on Farcaster will remain interoperable and composable, extending beyond any single client or app. Neynar will maintain the core Farcaster protocol, run the main client app, and operate tools like Clanker (the AI token launchpad).
They plan to keep existing services and pricing unchanged while improving developer experience—potentially including open-sourcing more components, reducing node operation complexity, and enhancing the overall stack.
This approach is seen as a stabilization move: Neynar, a long-time infrastructure provider in the Farcaster ecosystem, backed by firms like Haun Ventures has deep expertise in developer tools and has powered much of the current activity.
The pivot moves away from earlier consumer-growth pressures toward sustainable, utility-driven development in decentralized social.
In short, Neynar views Farcaster not primarily as a social media platform, but as open social infrastructure where builders thrive, experiment quickly as seen with past hits like Frames, Degen, and Warplets, and build real economic value—fixing incentive issues that plague centralized social media at scale.