The business that created the social network Farcaster, Merkle Manufactory, is expected to reach a $1 billion valuation through a new investment round, according to a Bloomberg article that cited people with knowledge of the situation.The cryptocurrency investment company Paradigm, whose holdings include significant cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase, Blur, dYdX, Compound, and Citadel Securities, is leading the round.In 2020, Varun Srinivasan and Dan Romero, two former executives of Coinbase, co-founded Merkle.Warpcast, the company’s flagship social media app, was developed on top of Farcaster, a decentralized social media app network.
Romero verified that Merkle is soliciting money in a post on March 28.“Wanted to inform all individuals that Merkle Manufactory is concluding a fresh funding round.”Paradigm has not acknowledged being involved.In July 2022, Merkle received $30 million from A16z Crypto, a venture capital firm.
With the launch of Warpcast’s Frames feature, which enables apps to run inside articles without leaving the platform, the Farcaster platform has witnessed a notable increase in user activity since January.With Frames, for example, users can generate nonfungible tokens (NFTs), transact, view external blog entries, and answer surveys all within the app.
User interaction has greatly increased as a result of the change.Based on data from Dune Analytics, the Farcaster network has over 249,000 daily active members on March 30 compared to about 5,000 on January 28.
Decentralized social media platforms are a novel category of social media networks that utilize blockchain technology to grant users control over their data, content, and interactions. This marks a departure from the centralized management characteristic of conventional social media.Features like content monetization without middlemen and resistance to censorship are what define these platforms.Friend.tech, Minds, and Mastodon are well-known brands in this industry.Two industry executives claim that user retention is one of the main issues that decentralized social media platforms deal with.