Farcaster welcomes a new owner: Neynar officially takes over, and the founding team gradually steps back

【BlockBeats】Farcaster founder Dan Romero recently announced industry news — Neynar is acquiring Farcaster. In the coming weeks, the existing team will transfer all ownership of the protocol contracts, codebase, Farcaster app, and Clanker to Neynar. The new owner will take over subsequent operations and maintenance, and is considered the most suitable team to lead Farcaster’s continued development.

Dan Romero openly admitted in a statement that this decision was not easy. Farcaster and the creators built on it are very important to the founding team. They are proud of the products they have created and the ecosystem built together with the community. But after five years of development, the team realized that to fully unlock Farcaster’s potential, new ideas and leadership are indeed needed.

Some members of Merkle (Farcaster’s founding company) and co-founder Varun Srinivasan will gradually step back from daily operations and focus on new projects. Dan Romero himself will also gradually fade out.

Neynar’s position in the ecosystem needs no elaboration — as one of the earliest clients of Farcaster, and the most core third-party infrastructure and developer platform within the ecosystem, most developer activities rely on Neynar’s technology support. This acquisition, to some extent, is handing the keys to those who understand this system best.

It’s worth recalling that Farcaster completed a $150 million funding round in May 2024, which was the second-largest fundraising event in the crypto space that year. Paradigm led the investment, with top institutions like a16z crypto, Haun, USV, Variant, and Standard Crypto participating. The strong lineup of investors once made Farcaster a hot project in the industry, even seen as a signal of the coming prosperity of decentralized social. From those high moments to today’s leadership change, Farcaster’s story continues to unfold.