GM DOers! 😎
1.5 months ago, we wrote about how Farcaster moved to Optimism to become permissionless (open up to the public). 🌐
In that article, we also said that once Farcaster goes public, it’ll force other competitors, like Lens Protocol, to open up as well. 👀
Well, yesterday, Dan Romero, the founder of Farcaster, made the much-anticipated announcement.
1,908
Around the same time, Lens announced that they’ll slowly start to welcome more people into their ecosystem as well. 🌊
Lens Protocol
Lens Protocol is a composable and decentralized social graph, ready for you to build on so you can focus on creating a great experience, not scaling your users.
There’s a battle for users going on right now between the pillars of web3 social: Lens Protocol and Farcaster. ⚔️
With Farcaster becoming permissionless first, they seem to have a first-mover advantage.
If you have no idea what ‘becoming permissionless’ is, don't worry, this is why you’re reading this article. 😁
Today, we’ll walk through:
Farcaster is Permissionless. What Does That Mean? 🌐
Farcaster Activity & Onchain Payments 💸
What’s Next? Pressure on the Competition 👀
PLUS: Announcing The Onchain Gift Shop 🛍️
Read until the end to find out how you can win cash & prizes worth hundreds of dollars by collecting this newsletter. 👀
Web3 social has never been more exciting before. LFG. ⏬
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Farcaster is Permissionless. What Does That Mean? 🌐
First of all, anyone can get on Farcaster now. You don’t need an invite. However, you need to pay a small fee per year to get an account.
They're implementing a fee to both prioritize engaged users on the platform and to raise funds that support the ecosystem's growth. 🚀
Second of all, being permissionless means that developers now have full access to data & APIs.
This allows anyone to build their own interface (which they call ‘clients’) of Farcaster.
And this brings us to our third point of what ‘permissionless’ means: You, as a user, can use whatever interface (client) you want to post or interact with content.
For example, someone already built a client called Flink, which looks similar to Reddit. Users can access Flink either with an existing account or by creating a new account.
Interestingly, since Farcaster opened up, more users signed up through Flink versus Warpcast.
Warpcast, developed by Farcaster during their beta, was once their default client.
However, due to Apple's fees on iOS apps, signing up on Warpcast is pricier than using Flick, a fee-free website.
Two reasons for this that I can think of:
1. it's cheaper, $7 on flink vs $12 on warpcast
2. more intuitive UX for crypto-natives, connect wallet on a site vs download an app, use Apple pay, etc
So why is all of this important?
A few reasons.
1️⃣ Content on Farcaster can be shown across all clients (if the clients build it that way). 💻
Think of this similar to having a Facebook post automatically appear on Twitter, which isn't feasible due to their closed platforms.
With Farcaster's open nature, this is achievable.
For you, as a user, it means that if you don’t like the interface of an app, just use another one.
Choose Warpcast for an X-style experience or Flink for a Reddit feel.
2️⃣ Farcaster unlocks innovation. 💡
Unlike web2's closed, profit-driven platforms like Facebook and Reddit, Farcaster is open-source and permissionless.
In Web2, developers often face restrictions or risks of platforms shutting them down. This tyrant-like relationship discourages innovation – devs have been rugged multiple times.
But with Farcaster's open nature, developers can freely create diverse client variations, catering to unique demands and niches.
This not only gives users a broader choice but also offers creators flexible monetization opportunities, as they can choose which client they want to use.
Farcaster Activity & Onchain Payments 📈
Let’s look onchain to see what the activity looks like on Farcaster so far.
Remember when I told you that Farcaster charges a fee for sign-ups? Users have paid over $17k so far to get on Farcaster.
Similarly, the hourly sign-ups are through the roof, with hundreds of people onboarding onto Farcaster every hour.
What’s interesting is how much Farcaster has thought about the onboarding process.
For example, Warpcast allows users to:
Sign up without a wallet
No secret phase needs to be backed up
Pay the $5/year in fiat
Making the experience as if it’s not on a blockchain.
All of this while there’s an Ethereum wallet under the hood, and people don’t even know about it.
Initially, I was skeptical about the yearly fee.
Even though it’s a low fee, the hassle of making the payment is a pain in the butt and many can’t be bothered to go through the entire process.
However, the process explained above is seemingly super easy.
Furthermore, each client creates its own onboarding UX. For example, on Flink, they offer a more web3 experience where you can sign up with an Ethereum wallet.
This means that Flink is good for crypto natives, while Warpcast caters to the mainstream crowd.
Onchain Social Media >>> Online Social Media
Catch up on the latest web3 news & listen to me and Jay talk even more about Farcaster in our latest Weekly Rollup podcast episode.
On your favorite platform. 👇
What’s Next? Pressure on the Competition 👀
In a recent X post, Lens teased that they’re ready to launch Lens V2 by the end of the month.
Devs:
We wrote about Lens V2 here, but as a TL;DR, Lens V2 will:
Provide an improved UX
Allow Lens to scale their users.
Allow Lens to be interoperable with protocols outside of Lens
So now, Lens is getting ready to welcome more people into the Lens universe.
It was obvious this would happen – it’s how competition works.
If your rival makes a move, you’re forced to make one yourself.
And that’s good, because it speeds up innovation. Both Farcaster & Lens should now be focused on shipping more features, onboarding more users, and providing a better and better UX.
All of that is beneficial to the wider web3 ecosystem, which is why we’re stoked to see the web3 social industry heating up. 🔥
Announcing The Onchain Gift Shop 🛍️
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Thanks for reading. And remember, you're strong, you’re powerful, you’re alpha! ❤️
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not financial advice. Conduct your own research and consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions or taking any action based on the content.
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