Decentralized Social Network Farcaster Developer to Return $180M to Investors

Merkle Manufactory, the corporate behind the crypto-oriented social media protocol Farcaster, plans to return $180 million in enterprise funding to buyers.

The determination was disclosed late Thursday by Merkle co-founder Dan Romero in a post on X, following hypothesis round the way forward for the mission.

Several buyers, together with former Coinbase govt Balaji Srinivasan, individually confirmed the plan to return the capital.

Romero: Farcaster Not Shutting Down as Merkle Plans to Repay $180M

“Farcaster is just not shutting down,” Romero wrote, pushing again on rumors surrounding the platform’s standing.

He mentioned the protocol stays operational, citing roughly 250,000 month-to-month energetic customers in December and greater than 100,000 funded wallets.

Romero added that Merkle intends to repay the total quantity raised over the previous 5 years, saying the agency sought to be a accountable steward of investor capital.

The announcement comes shortly after Farcaster was acquired by Neynar, a venture-backed startup that has lengthy constructed infrastructure inside the Farcaster ecosystem.

Under the deal, Neynar will assume management of Farcaster’s good contracts, code repositories, cellular utility, and Clanker, an AI-driven token launchpad.

Given some rumors, wished to publish a couple of clarifications:

Farcaster is just not shutting down. The protocol works and can proceed to work. There had 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 and fellow co-founder Varun Srinivasan, together with elements of the Merkle crew, will step away from day-to-day growth.

“This wasn’t a simple determination,” Romero wrote earlier this week. “But after 5 years, it’s clear Farcaster wants a brand new strategy and management to attain its full potential.”

Farcaster was launched with the ambition of decentralizing social media by permitting customers to management their identities and knowledge moderately than counting on centralized platforms.

The mission drew important consideration in 2024 when it raised $150 million from main crypto enterprise companies, together with Paradigm and Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm.

Despite early enthusiasm, Romero acknowledged that the platform struggled to obtain sustainable progress as a social-first product.

In December, the crew shifted its focus towards in-app wallets and buying and selling options in an effort to drive engagement, signaling a strategic pivot away from competing immediately with mainstream social networks.

Neynar, which offers developer instruments and APIs for purposes constructed on Farcaster, mentioned it plans to steer the protocol in a extra builder-centric path.

The firm is predicted to roll out a brand new roadmap centered on infrastructure and developer adoption moderately than consumer-facing social options.

Offline Web3 Messaging Apps Gain Momentum

The controversy round Farcaster comes as Web3-style social media and messaging instruments are gaining traction as governments more and more prohibit web entry during times of political unrest.

Bitchat, an offline messaging app created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has emerged as a key communication channel in international locations dealing with election-related shutdowns.

In Uganda, Bitchat surged to the top of local app store rankings after authorities minimize web and cellular providers forward of a disputed election.

Downloads within the nation have practically quadrupled in current months, with related spikes reported in Iran as customers search methods to talk throughout state-imposed blackouts.

The app operates with out web or mobile connections, relying as a substitute on Bluetooth mesh expertise that enables messages to hop between close by units.

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