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In short
- Merkle Manufactory, the corporate behind decentralized social protocol Farcaster, will refund enterprise traders the $180 million it raised.
- The transfer comes after the protocol was offered to infrastructure agency Neynar.
- “Farcaster isn’t shutting down,” Merkle co-founder Dan Romero stated, noting that Neynar plans to “shift Farcaster in a extra developer-focused path.”
Merkle Manufactory, the corporate behind decentralized social protocol Farcaster, plans to repay enterprise traders the total $180 million it raised.
Merkle co-founder Dan Romero tweeted Thursday that the corporate would return traders’ capital in full because the undertaking transitions beneath new possession after the protocol was offered to infrastructure agency Neynar, responding to issues that the corporate is shutting down.
“Farcaster isn’t shutting down,” Romero wrote. “The protocol works and can proceed to work.” He added that venture-backed startup Neynar plans to “shift Farcaster in a extra developer-focused path.”
Merkle, in the meantime, plans to “return the total $180 million raised” again to its traders, he stated.
Given some rumors, wished to put up a number of clarifications:
Farcaster isn’t shutting down. The protocol works and can proceed to work. There have been 250,000 MAU in December and over 100,000 funded wallets. The acquirer, Neynar, is a venture-backed startup and plans to shift…
— Dan Romero (@dwr) January 22, 2026
Romero first revealed the acquisition Wednesday, saying possession of Farcaster’s protocol contracts, code repositories, core app, and the Clanker undertaking might be transferred to Neynar over the approaching weeks, with the infrastructure agency assuming duty for operating and sustaining the protocol going ahead.
Merkle Manufactory was based in 2020 by Romero and Varun Srinivasan and raised a complete of $180 million from traders together with a16z Crypto and Paradigm.
Farcaster was final valued at a reported $1 billion following a $150 million Sequence A spherical in 2024, earlier than the protocol’s sale to Neynar and Merkle’s plan to return investor capital.
‘A wholesome correction’
The handover comes as decentralized social media has drawn renewed consideration from the crypto business, as main adjustments occur throughout ecosystems.
Lens Protocol, the decentralized social platform developed by the workforce behind Ethereum-based protocol Aave, confirmed Tuesday that Masks Community will take over stewardship of the undertaking.
The transitions place Farcaster and Lens beneath new operators drawn from their present infrastructure ecosystems, with Neynar taking possession and operational management of Farcaster, whereas Masks Community assumes a stewardship position over Lens with out buying the protocol.
Observers say these strikes level to a maturing section for decentralized social, with infrastructure-focused groups taking over better duty for working and scaling protocols.
"On-chain social isn’t dying, it’s simply shedding the parable that decentralization alone is sufficient,” Lia Savillo, Head of Socials at inventive technique company Hype, advised Decrypt. “The subsequent period might be constructed by groups that prioritize infra, UX, and sustainability over ideology.”
The current strikes really feel “like a wholesome correction,” she stated.
In a current interview, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin pointed to Farcaster and Lens Protocol as examples of protocols testing whether or not social platforms can change operators with out breaking consumer networks, governance, or id.
“We’d like mass communication instruments that serve the consumer's long-term curiosity, not maximize short-term engagement,” Buterin wrote Wednesday.
The switch of Farcaster’s contracts, code, and core app to Neynar exhibits a concrete occasion of that design, the place operational management may change, however the protocol itself would proceed to run.
“Early on-chain social was pushed by tradition and beliefs, however long-term viability requires operators who deal with it like infrastructure, not a motion,” Hype’s Savillo stated, including that these adjustments throughout decentralized social point out the house is “rising up, shifting from founder-led experimentation to groups optimized for reliability, scale, and developer velocity."
