Decentralized social media protocol Farcaster is preparing to return $180 million to venture capital investors. Co-founder Dan Romero confirmed that Farcaster will continue operating following its acquisition by Neynar.

On Thursday, Romero shared on X that Merkle Manufactory plans to refund all investor capital:

“As for Merkle, we plan to return the full $180 million raised back to investors. Over the last five years, we’ve tried to be good stewards of investor capital.”

Romero highlighted that the protocol had 250,000 monthly active users and more than 100,000 funded wallets as of December. He also noted that Neynar intends to shift the project in a more developer-focused direction:

“Farcaster is not shutting down. The protocol works and will continue to work.”

Former Coinbase executive and early Farcaster supporter Balaji Srinivasan also confirmed the refund plan:

“The technology is real and works. The transfer to Neynar could help Farcaster achieve its long-term goal of deeper decentralization.”

Founded in 2020 by Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, Merkle Manufactory is backed by major investors including a16z Crypto and Paradigm. Following a $150 million Series A round in 2024, Farcaster was reportedly valued at $1 billion.

Farcaster’s $180 million refund plan has been confirmed by supporting venture capital funds and strategic partners. This step reinforces Farcaster’s long-term mission to advance decentralized social media.

What is Farcaster?

Farcaster stands out in the decentralized social media ecosystem by giving users control over their data and audience. Built by Coinbase alumni in 2020, the protocol runs on Optimism, managing accounts, usernames, signers, and messages on-chain while social interactions leverage off-chain storage. Applications like Warpcast offer a Twitter-like experience—censorship-resistant, interoperable, and user-first. Its hybrid architecture ensures identity data is on-chain while social activity remains off-chain, so users maintain ownership of their content and followers even when switching apps. As of 2025, Frames enables on-chain and off-chain actions—including NFT minting, gaming, and commerce—directly within the feed.

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