Ethereum-based Farcaster taps $150M amid ETH surge – What now?

• Farcaster secured $150 million in a Series A round led by Paradigm.
• Farcaster integrated with Arbitrum amidst the Ethereum surge and ETF anticipation.

Amid Ethereum’s surge beyond $3000 with a 29.05% jump in 24 hours, Farcaster, a decentralized social media protocol on Ethereum [ETH], received substantial funding.

In a press release dated 21st May, Farcaster announced a $150 million Series A funding round, led by Paradigm. Other participants include Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto fund, Haun Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Variant, and Standard Crypto.

Farcaster founder’s remark 

Dan Romero, co-founder of Farcaster in an exclusive interview with the ‘Unchained’ podcast, said, 

“We’re doubling down on Farcaster in terms of our vision over the next few years to really grow this to be an internet-scale protocol.” 

Shedding light on the company’s ongoing efforts since October 2023, Romero in the press release stated, 

“Since going permissionless last October, Farcaster has seen 350,000 paid sign-ups and a 50x increase in network activity. There are hundreds of developers building on the protocol and a growing number of apps and frames for people to use.” 

The surge in network activity is credited to the release of Frames, a feature transforming posts into interactive applications. Since the launch of Frames on the 26th of January, daily active users of Farcaster, have been reported to have skyrocketed by nearly 500%.

This sentiment was further confirmed by the Dune Analytics dashboard developed by Pixelhack. As of the 20th of May, Farcaster boasted almost 45,000 daily active users on a seven-day trailing average, marking a 30% increase since February. 

Buterin’s positive outlook 

Underlining positive sentiment towards Farcaster’s endeavors, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, an active user of Farcaster’s Warpcast app, in his recent post said, 

“This is a good decision. Preferenxe falsification is a big problem in society and we need to see people’s honest views. It would be really cool if Farcaster follows it, by implementing ZK likes. Can probably borrow technology from zupoll.” 

It’s interesting to note that this move by Farcaster came when the crypto industry is also waiting for the approval of the Ethereum exchange traded fund.

Arbitrum joins the game 

Well, the story doesn’t end here, as on the same day, Farcaster also announced its integration with Arbirtum. In an X post, Arbitrum stated, 

All in all, the Series A funding signals a significant vote of confidence in Farcaster’s future success.

Ergo, if the protocol continues to gain momentum, it could lead to a shift towards more user-focused and decentralized internet experiences, challenging traditional social networks.