Farcaster Remains Active as Neynar Takes Over Operations

Crypto News Business

Farcaster Stays Live as Neynar Takes Control of the Protocol

Written by Aaron S.,

Editor-In-Chief

Last Updated: January 23, 2026

Key Takeaways

Farcaster will remain active under Neynar’s leadership, with co-founder Dan Romero confirming the protocol is not shutting down;
Merkle Manufactory, Farcaster’s developer, will return its full $180 million in raised capital to investors after five years of work;
Neynar will now manage Farcaster’s code, contracts, and main app as Romero and several team members step away.

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Farcaster Stays Live as Neynar Takes Control of the Protocol

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After Neynar’s acquisition of Farcaster, co-founder Dan Romero assured the community that the protocol will stay active and continue running as usual.

He clarified in a post on X that Farcaster is not shutting down and that the change marks a new stage in its development.

Farcaster is a decentralized social protocol that lets developers build connected apps. It allows people to keep control of their identities and social links onchain, rather than being limited to one platform.

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Romero shared that usage remains steady, with around 250,000 monthly active users in December and over 100,000 funded wallets.

He explained that Neynar, which has long provided infrastructure for Farcaster, will now focus on making the protocol more developer-friendly.

Merkle Manufactory, the company behind Farcaster, raised $30 million from a16z crypto in 2022 and later secured another round led by Paradigm in 2024. That round reportedly valued the company at over $1 billion.

In total, Merkle has raised $180 million, which Romero said will be returned to investors.

He added that this decision followed five years of building and careful use of investor funds. Investor Balaji Srinivasan confirmed the refunds and commended the team for their work on decentralized social technology.

Under the new arrangement, Neynar will take charge of Farcaster’s code, protocol contracts, and the main app. Romero and several team members will leave their roles and move on to other projects.

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