Farcaster

Legacy social media platforms lock you in, control your audience, and exploit your data. Farcaster aims to fix those problems. But how can it attract developers and users in an already saturated media environment?  Developer Ecosystem Lead Linda Xie joined the show to explain: How Farcaster addresses social media’s structural flaws How Farcaster’s mini-app ecosystem is helping to grow the user base The most popular apps taking off on the platform How the whole crypto community could benefit from gathering on Farcaster Why she believes crypto communities belong on open, portable networks And why her family’s history helped her grasp the significance of Bitcoin in 2011 Visit our website for breaking news, analysis, op-eds, articles to learn about crypto, and much more: unchainedcrypto.com Bitwise Linda Xie, Developer Ecosystem Lead at Farcaster Previous coverage of Unchained on Farcaster and social media: Farcaster Wants to Win Over Crypto. Here’s How It’s Different From ‘Crypto Twitter’ Ethereum Accounts to Post on Social Media More After Criticism How Decentralized Social Network Farcaster Hopes to Eventually Get to One Billion Users What is Warpcast Wallet? Farcaster’s Snapchain Farcaster’s mini-apps Understanding Farcaster: A Sufficiently Decentralized Social Graph Protocol Timestamps: 🤝 0:00 Introduction 🤯 3:55 How an unusual situation in her family got Linda crypto-pilled ⚖️ 7:57 How building legitimacy at Coinbase was crucial for the industry 🪜 10:20 Xie’s journey from VC to founder 🌐 13:04 How crypto’s adoption has evolved around the world 🔍 16:44 Why Linda decided to build and focus on Farcaster 🔧 23:31 How Farcaster addresses social media’s structural flaws 👀 31:14 How mini-apps build Farcaster’s user base 💲 37:32 Why Warpcast Wallet is a “game changer,” according to Linda ❓ 40:19 How Snapchain is used for storing data 👷 44:29 What types of developers the Farcaster ecosystem attracts 💡 45:20 How Linda aims to make Farcaster easy to understand ✨ 49:50 Linda’s favorite Farcaster mini-apps 😀 55:10 Attracting the whole crypto community to Farcaster Thank you to our sponsors!Guest: Links Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Linda Xie

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Scalar CapitalFarcaster

Welcome to The Chopping Block – where crypto insiders Haseeb Qureshi, Tom Schmidt, Tarun Chitra, and special guest Dan Romero, co-founder of Farcaster, engage in a riveting discussion on decentralized social media and the burgeoning meme coin trend within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. This episode offers an in-depth analysis of Farcaster's innovative mechanisms for user engagement and its significant role in shaping the future of social interactions in the crypto domain. We delve into the mechanics behind meme coins, examining their influence on community dynamics, market behavior, and the broader implications for digital asset valuation. Our conversation navigates through the intricacies of decentralized platforms like Farcaster, probing into their potential to disrupt conventional social media models and foster a new era of user-centric, blockchain-enabled online communities. Join us for a comprehensive exploration of these pivotal developments, enriched with Dan Romero's firsthand insights, as we dissect the evolving landscape of social media in the crypto age and the captivating allure of meme coins, all aimed at providing a deeper understanding of their impact on the global cryptocurrency market. Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. Show Highlights 🔹 Decentralized Social Media Evolution: Exploring the growth and challenges of platforms like Farcaster in the decentralized web landscape. 🔹 User Empowerment in Crypto: Analyzing how crypto-native features on platforms empower users through economic incentives and community building. 🔹 The Rise of Social Tokens: Delving into the emergence of social tokens and their role in fostering online communities and creator economies. 🔹 Interactive Crypto Features: Investigating innovative features like Farcaster's frames and their impact on user engagement and content sharing. 🔹 Sustainable Tokenomics: Discussing the sustainability of token models in social platforms and the potential for long-term value creation. 🔹 Behavioral Economics in Crypto: Understanding the psychological factors driving the speculative nature of meme coins and their market dynamics. 🔹 Decentralization vs. Centralization: Debating the balance between decentralized ethos and the need for centralized governance in crypto platforms. 🔹 The Future of Online Identity: Discussing the evolution of online identities in the context of decentralized platforms and blockchain technology. 🔹 Celebrity and Crypto Synergies: Speculating on the future of celebrity involvement in crypto through personalized tokens and endorsements. 🔹 Cross-Platform Crypto Integration: Exploring the possibilities and challenges of integrating crypto-native features across various social and digital platforms. 🔹 Ethical Considerations in Crypto: Delving into the ethical implications of rapid token creation, distribution strategies, and their impact on unsuspecting users. Hosts ⭐️Haseeb Qureshi, Managing partner at Dragonfly  ⭐️Tom Schmidt, General Partner at Dragonfly  ⭐️Tarun Chitra, Managing Partner at Robot Ventures Guest ⭐️ Dan Romero, Farcaster Co-Founder Disclosures Links Eugene Wei’s “Status as a Service (StaaS)”: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service  Vitalik Buterin’s forum post on DAICOs: https://ethresear.ch/t/explanation-of-daicos/465/1  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Romero

Co-Founder

FarcasterCoinbase

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Pandora, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. In the two weeks since Farcaster introduced its Frames feature that allows developers to easily add mini apps to users’ posts, the decentralized social network has become the talk of Twitter, now X, and increased its user base by ten times, according to co-founder Dan Romero.  Romero joins Unchained to discuss why Frames has become so popular, the philosophy behind Farcaster and its client Warpcast, why the crypto component behind Farcaster is being kept to a minimum, how Apple’s new Vision Pro could lead to the creation of a 3D social network on Farcaster, how he and his fellow co-founder’s background at Coinbase helped shape their decisions about building Farcaster, and his vision for eventually getting Farcaster to a billion-plus users.  Show highlights: What Farcaster is and what problems it’s trying to solve How and why Farcaster uses blockchain technology in the background  How you can use ENS (Ethereum Name Services) for your handles on Farcaster How the recovery of accounts works on Farcaster and what the security implications are What Frames is and why it’s significant for developers and creators What’s controlled by the protocol vs. the client  What Dan imagines could be built with the new Apple Vision Pro Whether there’s potential for better economics and ways to monetize content in Farcaster Why Farcaster is on Optimism, an Ethereum Layer 2, and whether it could be moved to another network How they are working to build a more decentralized network What the future of Farcaster and Frames could look like How Dan’s background at Coinbase shaped the way in which he decided to build Farcaster What the strategy is for scaling the platform to the numbers more associated with Web2 social media Thank you to our sponsors! Popcorn Network Polkadot Guest: Dan Romero, Co-founder of Farcaster Coinbase’s Pragmatic Crypto Culture by Dan Romero Links Unchained:  Bounties to Build Frames on Farcaster Are Growing Rapidly Farcaster's User Base Skyrockets Nearly 500% After Frames Launch What Is SocialFi? A Beginner’s Guide The Chopping Block: Is Farcaster the Web3 Social Layer? Dan’s ideas for Farcaster Farcaster architecture Architecture Onchain password reset mechanism Why Farcaster Frames are important The layers of Farcaster Farcaster charges “rent” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Romero

Co-Founder

FarcasterCoinbase

Farcaster is a twitter-like crypto social media app that just launched what could prove to be a killer new feature. They’re called frames. We’re calling it now and we’re calling it early - we think Farcaster frames could be a breakout use-case for crypto this year and a way to onboard the masses in the months to come and we're here with founder, Dan Romero, to explain why. ------ 🏹 USE PODCAST24 FOR 10% OFF https://bankless.cc/Citizen2024  ------ 🎧 Listen On Your Favorite Podcast Player:  https://bankless.cc/Podcast  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2    ⁠  🔗CELO | CEL2 COMING SOON https://bankless.cc/Celo    🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION https://bankless.cc/toku    🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle    💸 CRYPTO TAX CALCULATOR | USE CODE BANK30 https://bankless.cc/CTC  🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE https://bankless.cc/uniswap  ------ TIMESTAMPS   00:00:00 Start 00:07:48 Intro To Dan and Farcaster 00:12:00 What's Different About Farcaster 00:17:12 Investing in Farcaster vs X 00:22:19 Introduction To Frames 00:29:40 Frames Escape Velocity 00:38:22 Building a New Internet 00:47:52 Frames Distribution 00:54:52 Sufficiently Decentralized 01:05:11 Censorship 01:10:07 Farcaster Costs 01:15:29 Farcaster Economics 01:21:54 Rapid Fire Q&A ------ RESOURCES Farcaster: https://www.farcaster.xyz  Dan Farcaster: https://warpcast.com/dwr.eth  Dan X Profile: https://twitter.com/dwr  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures ⁠

Dan Romero

Co-Founder

FarcasterCoinbase

We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. (0:00) Preview of the debate (2:23) Sponsor (3:10) Flo’s take on the AI moment and AGI (5:45) Amjad’s take on the AI moment (8:03) Antonio's skepticism about transhumanism (9:10) Human tendencies color the debate about agency (11:25) The inflection point is a jump in generality (13:14) AI's effect on coding (16:57) Weakness in current models (19:18) Bounties and the future of work (21:48) Antonio's skepticism around bounties (25:00) Who will capture value, incumbents or startups? (27:26) "All knowledge work will be automated in 20 years" (30:10) Who will be the biggest beneficiaries of this shift? (31:50) What AI companies should VCs invest in? (32:26) Sponsor SPONSORS: SHOPIFY | OMNEKY Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of ALL eCommerce in the US. And Shopify's the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries.From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/cognitive Thank you Omneky for sponsoring The Cognitive Revolution. Omneky is an omnichannel creative generation platform that lets you launch hundreds of thousands of ad iterations that actually work, customized across all platforms, with a click of a button. Omneky combines generative AI and real-time advertising data, to generate personalized experiences at scale.  Twitter: @CogRev_Podcast @amasad (Amjad) @antoniogm (Antonio) @altimor (Flo) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @labenz (Nathan) Subscribe to our Substack: https://cognitiverevolution.substack.com/   Websites: cognitivervolution.ai replit.com teamflowhq.com omneky.com   Show Notes & references: Eliezer Yudkowsky: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/FKNtgZrGYwgsz3nHT/bankless-podcast-159-we-re-all-gonna-die-with-eliezer Paul Christiano: https://paulfchristiano.com/ AI Feedback: https://www.anthropic.com/constitutional.pdf RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co.

Amjad Masad

Co-founder & CEO

Replit

Flo Crivello

Founder & CEO, Lindy AI

Lindy AILindy

Dan Romero

Co-Founder

FarcasterCoinbase

Antonio Garcia Martinez

Author & Tech Executive

MetaFacebookAGAntonio García-MartinezTRThe Pull RequestPull Request (Substack)SpindleApple

✨ DEBRIEF | Unpacking the episode: https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/debrief-dan-romero  ------ Dan Romero was an early employee at Coinbase and is now the Co-Founder of Farcaster, a new decentralized social network that has captured the attention of many in Web3. Aside from sharing a secret passcode to access Farcaster during the episode (Bankless Premium subscribers only)…Dan also shares his thoughts on why he doesn’t think Web2 social media is broken, why people should care about decentralized social media, how decentralized does it have to be in order to work, and how all of this will fundamentally change the internet and the trajectory of humanity. ------ 📣 Crypto Tax Calculator | Free Crypto Tax Calculator https://bankless.cc/CTCpodcast  ------ 🚀 JOIN BANKLESS PREMIUM: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/subscribe  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/kraken  🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE https://bankless.cc/uniswap  ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum  🚁 EARNIFI | CLAIM YOUR UNCLAIMED AIRDROPS https://bankless.cc/earnifi  ------ Topics Covered 0:00 Intro 6:08 Is Web2 Broken? 10:25 Web3 Improvements 19:25 Unique Web3 Properties 24:42 Developer & User Sovereignty 31:57 Farcaster’s Feature & Protocol Thesis 45:25 Unique Properties of Decentralized Social Platforms 58:29 Growing Farcaster & Client Competition 1:05:39 Incentive Mechanisms 1:11:30 Is a Token Needed? 1:15:55 Protocols 1:19:48 Advertising & Farcaster 1:25:48 Farcaster On-Chain Footprint 1:27:47 Spam Prevention 1:31:31 Discoverability & Regulation 1:33:45 Identity 1:36:00 Closing & Disclaimers ------ Resources: DM Dan Secret Passcode https://twitter.com/dwr  https://danromero.org/  ----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research. Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures

Dan Romero

Co-Founder

FarcasterCoinbase

Linda Xie, cofounder at Scalar Capital, reads her essay on how the crypto community can successfully use memes to help people understand the technology. Thank you to our sponsors!  CipherTrace: http://ciphertrace.com/unchained Crypto.com: http://crypto.com/ Kraken: http://kraken.com/ Episode links:  Linda Xie: https://twitter.com/ljxie Scalar Capital: https://scalar.capital/ Read Linda's full essay at: https://unchainedpodcast.com/how-memes-can-help-crypto-go-mainstream/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Linda Xie

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Scalar CapitalFarcaster

On this episode, Abadesi interviews Linda Xie, co-founder of Scalar Capital. Scalar Capital is a San Francisco-based hedge fund specializing in crypto assets. Linda is also an advisor to 0x and former product manager at Coinbase. In this episode: Her extraordinary story of hustling to get a job at Coinbase, what it was like growing with the company as it scaled from only a few employees to one of the best-known companies in crypto, then leaving the company to start a fund with a fellow employee. How she first became interested in crypto (back when Bitcoin was $200), the coolest projects she's come across in the space, and the most exciting (and world-changing) applications of cryptocurrencies. The investing thesis at Scalar Capital, what kinds of companies they're looking to invest in, and how they use the power of communities to source deals. Of course, we also talk about some of her favorite products and what she uses to become more productive, including a chatbot that can improve your emotional health, a way to simplify scheduling meetings, and an app that lets you save highlights from physical books by taking a picture with your phone. We’ll be back next week so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, Overcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Also, big thanks to AngelList and FreshBooks for their support. 😸 Quotes from This Episode “I feel like people know a lot about crypto, they just feel like they don’t because they are very overwhelmed by information and news articles that people are posting.” “I wasn’t even positive that I wanted to do this yet, I was just floating the idea to him and he was like, 'yeah, that sounds awesome. Do you want to put in our two weeks today?' I was like, wow, okay, I’m not quite sure if I’m ready.” “It’s important to be able to ask dumb questions in a room. As a product manager, the worst things is if you’re totally missing something that someone’s telling you and you built the wrong product. You need to be comfortable asking someone to explain things to you.” Companies and Products Mentioned in This Episode Calendly — Simple, beautiful scheduling. Highlight — Save and share highlights from physical books. Superhuman — The fastest email experience ever made. Trello — Organize anything, together. Woebot — A chatbot to improve your mood using CBT.

Linda Xie

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Scalar CapitalFarcaster

Coinbase has departed from its conservative roots and begun adding many more coins. Dan Romero, vice president of Coinbase, explains how its listing process works, how it tries to prevent insider trading, and why it's listed coins that had ICOs, even though the SEC has indicated all coins that were offered in ICOs at least started off as securities. He also talks about Coinbase's international expansion, how regulations around crypto differ in Japan vs. the U.S., and the importance of banking relationships for crypto companies. Plus, we dive into how Coinbase plans to weather competition on multiple fronts -- from Robinhood, Square and Binance on its consumer side, and from Fidelity and Bakkt on the institutional side -- how its decentralized projects could affect its current revenues and how it is staffing now for any future hype cycles that could increase crypto adoption by an order of magnitude. Thank you to our sponsors! Microsoft: aka.ms/unchained CipherTrace: https://ciphertrace.com/unchained Altlending:  https://altlending.com Episode links: Coinbase: https://www.coinbase.com/ Dan: https://twitter.com/dwr Coinbase Listing: https://listing.coinbase.com Digital Asset Framework: https://listing.coinbase.com Coinbase's new listing process: https://blog.coinbase.com/new-asset-listing-process-a83ef296a0f3 Announcement that they were exploring adding Cardano, Basica Attention Token, Stellar Lumens, Zcash and 0x: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-is-exploring-cardano-basic-attention-token-stellar-zcash-and-0x-9e44f0eb823f News announced after we recorded: Coinbase considering offering 31 new assets: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-continues-to-explore-support-for-new-digital-assets-92ba4ab7f465 Interview with Will Warren of decentralized exchange 0x: http://unchainedpodcast.co/will-warren-of-0x-on-why-decentralized-exchanges-are-the-future Coinbase investigates insider trading of Bitcoin Cash: http://fortune.com/2017/12/20/coinbase-bitcoin-insider-trading/ Coinbase finds no insider trading of Bitcoin Cash: http://fortune.com/2018/07/24/coinbase-insider-trading/ Unchained episode on Coinbase/IRS case: http://unchainedpodcast.co/is-the-irs-justified-in-demanding-information-on-millions-of-bitcoin-users Link to Alistair Milne's tracking of total Coinbase customer base: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NgvD2kFT69mSXuJPzPDu-Qv9SS1ck2iPt6Kw9a55z0k/edit#gid=0 Coinbase adding USDC: https://blog.coinbase.com/coinbase-and-circle-announce-the-launch-of-usdc-a-digital-dollar-2cd6548d237 Unchained episode with Circle: http://unchainedpodcast.co/circles-jeremy-allaire-and-sean-neville-on-why-crypto-will-be-bigger-than-the-web-ep71 Unchained episode with Rune Christensen of MakerDAO: http://unchainedpodcast.co/why-its-so-hard-to-keep-stablecoins-stable Unconfirmed episode with Rune: http://unconfirmed.libsyn.com/rune-christensen-of-makerdao-on-its-15-million-from-andreessen-horowitz-ep039 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dan Romero

Co-Founder

FarcasterCoinbase

Linda Xie is a Co-Founder & Managing Director @ Scalar Capital, one of the leading crypto asset funds to have been born over the last few years with Linda becoming one of the most prominent figures in the space. Prior to co-founding Scalar, Linda was a product manager at Coinbase where she worked with regulators and law enforcement. Before Coinbase, she was a portfolio risk analyst at AIG. If that was not enough, Linda is also an advisor to 0x, the critical infrastructure layer in the emerging financial stack built on a foundation of Ethereum token standards. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Linda made her move into the world of crypto joining Coinbase back in 2014 and how that led to her founding of Scalar? What were her biggest takeaways from seeing the first-hand scaling of Coinbase? 2.) What is a privacy coin and why does it matter? What are some of the dominant legitimate uses for privacy coins? From ZCash to Monero to Dash, there are many players in the space, what are some of the core benefits and tradeoffs of each platform? What is the fundamental problem with privacy coins today? 3.) What is a decentralised exchange, why does Linda believe it is inherently important? How does Linda assess the current exchange environment today? Where does she see it moving over the coming years? What have been some of Linda's biggest learnings advising 0x? Given the mission and ethos of crypto, does Linda believe that centralised exchanges fundamentally go against the core ethos of the space? 4.) How does Linda perceive the state of ethereum today? What are some of the core challenges facing ethereum today? How does ethereum compare to alternative smart contract platforms? What is their differentiation? Will we see a winner take all/most market within smart contract platforms? Will we see smart contract platforms be regionally fragmented? 5.) How does Linda address the fundamental challenge of valuing tokens today? What has been her preferred model in doing this to date? How does Linda assess the mega raises we have seen over the last year? How does Linda think about preventing projects from raising huge rounds just to stay in step with the mega raises of their competitors? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Linda's Fave Book: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Linda's Most Recent Investment: Kadena As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Linda on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Linda Xie

Co-Founder & Managing Director

Scalar CapitalFarcaster