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.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Romero shared on X that Merkle Manufactory plans to refund all investor capital:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAs for Merkle, we plan to return the full $180 million raised back to investors. Over the last five years, we\u2019ve tried to be good stewards of investor capital.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cFarcaster is not shutting down. The protocol works and will continue to work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Former Coinbase executive and early Farcaster supporter Balaji Srinivasan also confirmed the refund plan:<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe technology is real and works. The transfer to Neynar could help Farcaster achieve its long-term goal of deeper decentralization.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Farcaster\u2019s $180 million refund plan has been confirmed by supporting venture capital funds and strategic partners. This step reinforces Farcaster\u2019s long-term mission to advance decentralized social media.<\/p>\n
What is Farcaster?<\/h1>\n
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\u2014censorship-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\u2014including NFT minting<\/a>, gaming, and commerce\u2014directly within the feed.<\/p>\n
Also, in the comment section, you can freely share your comments and opinions about the topic. Additionally, don\u2019t forget to follow us on\u00a0Telegram<\/a>,\u00a0YouTube<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0for the latest news and updates.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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: \u201cAs for Merkle, we plan to return the full $180 million<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,2],"tags":[9323,16025,14723,27445,27443,27444,24183],"class_list":["post-62338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crypto-news","category-news","tag-blockchain-news","tag-crypto-protocol","tag-decentralized-social-media","tag-farcaster-refund","tag-farcaster-update","tag-neynar-acquisition","tag-web3-investment"],"yoast_head":"\n
Farcaster Announces: Protocol Is Not Shutting Down - Coin Engineer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Farcaster will refund $180M to investors, the protocol is not shutting down, and Neynar acquisition brings a developer-focused new phase.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Farcaster Announces: Protocol Is Not Shutting Down - Coin Engineer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Farcaster will refund $180M to investors, the protocol is not shutting down, and Neynar acquisition brings a developer-focused new phase.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Coin Engineer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-23T14:00:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-23T11:41:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Yeliz Akmaca\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Yeliz Akmaca\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/\",\"name\":\"Farcaster Announces: Protocol Is Not Shutting Down - Coin Engineer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-23T14:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-23T11:41:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5f900e6c865999388c1ea494e5953442\"},\"description\":\"Farcaster will refund $180M to investors, the protocol is not shutting down, and Neynar acquisition brings a developer-focused new phase.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Farcaster Announces: Protocol Is Not Shutting Down\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Coin Engineer\",\"description\":\"Btc, Coins, Pre-Sale, DeFi, NFT\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5f900e6c865999388c1ea494e5953442\",\"name\":\"Yeliz Akmaca\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b399e2146177639d343205648bae3bdb3cd7bb9d02c7186f71149c7122151b69?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b399e2146177639d343205648bae3bdb3cd7bb9d02c7186f71149c7122151b69?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Yeliz Akmaca\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/author\/cmyelizz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Farcaster Announces: Protocol Is Not Shutting Down - Coin Engineer","description":"Farcaster will refund $180M to investors, the protocol is not shutting down, and Neynar acquisition brings a developer-focused new phase.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Farcaster Announces: Protocol Is Not Shutting Down - Coin Engineer","og_description":"Farcaster will refund $180M to investors, the protocol is not shutting down, and Neynar acquisition brings a developer-focused new phase.","og_url":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/","og_site_name":"Coin Engineer","article_published_time":"2026-01-23T14:00:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-23T11:41:55+00:00","author":"Yeliz Akmaca","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Yeliz Akmaca","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/","url":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/","name":"Farcaster Announces: Protocol Is Not Shutting Down - Coin Engineer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-23T14:00:33+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-23T11:41:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5f900e6c865999388c1ea494e5953442"},"description":"Farcaster will refund $180M to investors, the protocol is not shutting down, and Neynar acquisition brings a developer-focused new phase.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/farcaster-announces-protocol-is-not-shutting-down\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Farcaster Announces: Protocol Is Not Shutting Down"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/","name":"Coin Engineer","description":"Btc, Coins, Pre-Sale, DeFi, NFT","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5f900e6c865999388c1ea494e5953442","name":"Yeliz Akmaca","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b399e2146177639d343205648bae3bdb3cd7bb9d02c7186f71149c7122151b69?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b399e2146177639d343205648bae3bdb3cd7bb9d02c7186f71149c7122151b69?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Yeliz Akmaca"},"url":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/author\/cmyelizz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62339,"href":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62338\/revisions\/62339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinengineer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}