Crypto social network Farcaster raises $150 million despite only having 80,000 users per day

Farcaster, a brand new social network, just raised $150 million from major investment funds. This is a platform founded by two former employees of the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange.

A special feature of Farcaster is that it operates on the Ethereum blockchain platform. Users can build their own applications on Farcaster, just like building a house on a piece of land. The most popular application today is Warpcast, which has an interface similar to Twitter.

To ensure safety, users’ identities are stored on the blockchain. However, content such as posts, followers, likes… are stored externally. Users need to pay a small fee in Ethereum cryptocurrency to store their data. Currently, this costs about $7 for 5,000 posts. Without payment, old posts will be deleted when users post new ones.

Play Pokémon in a Frame. cc @jordanmessina pic.twitter.com/qYh1pOFKXl

— Dan Romero (@dwr) January 27, 2024

Farcaster also has the feature to create separate channels by topic. For example, you can set up a channel to discuss basketball instead of posting on your personal page to avoid annoying uninterested followers.

Another interesting feature is Frames, which allows developers to share their applications on Farcaster. For example, a user created a Frame to play Pokemon together.

However, the disadvantage of Farcaster is that users need an e-wallet to register, making it difficult for those unfamiliar with cryptocurrency. Currently, Farcaster’s daily active users are around 80,000, lower than other decentralized social media platforms.

The amount of $150 million is a huge investment for a startup, especially in the field of cryptocurrency and social networks, which is facing many difficulties. However, Farcaster’s investors are all funds that specialize in cryptocurrencies, showing they are willing to take risks in this field.