Neynar acquires Farcaster as founding team steps back from operations

Farcaster, the decentralized social protocol that once looked like crypto’s best shot at building a Twitter alternative, is undergoing a leadership overhaul. Neynar, which has served as a core infrastructure provider for the Farcaster ecosystem, is taking over stewardship of the protocol, the flagship Farcaster app, and the upcoming Clanker AI token launchpad. Co-founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan are stepping away from daily operations at Merkle Manufactory, the company behind Farcaster, to pursue new opportunities. Merkle is returning $180 million to investors following the sale to Neynar. A $150 million bet that didn’t quite pay off Farcaster raised $150 million in May 2024 from some of crypto venture capital’s biggest names, including Paradigm and a16z crypto. Farcaster struggled to maintain user growth after its initial burst of attention, prompting a strategic shift towards in-app wallets and trading features in late 2025, which ultimately led to the management transition announced on January 21, 2026. Returning $180 million to investors, more than the $150 million originally raised, is an unusually transparent move. Most crypto startups that lose momentum simply keep b...