Jake Stott ⚡ || jws.eth

"Should we rename Warpcast to Farcaster?"

https://x.com/Jake_Stott/status/1910254505943347519

How are we making Farcaster easier to understand for new people

1. We're still considering rebranding Warpcast (back) to Farcaster. If we do that, will have an FIP. It will be controversial, but initial feedback from most developers actively building on the protocol is they are a supportive (with the goal of increasing users on the protocol). To be clear: this is not final /decided.

2. We rebranded frames to mini apps. This is a more literal name and in line with other popular ecosystems like Telegram. This is easier to understand for new developers.

3. We're gradually deprecating warps. We here this feedback a lot—what are warps and why do I need them—and moving most of the functionality of warps to USDC is much simpler (as well as being more composable).

4. We're working on cheaper / free sign ups. A lot of potential good new users churn at the $3 to sign up screen. Our goals are to 1) make it cheaper at the protocol for other apps and 2) free on Warpcast with a verification (we pay the protocol).

If you were to name it now. If it had no current name or history. What would you name it?

What’s going on with warps?

1. Warps are an offchain, in-app currency on Warpcast. They do not fluctuate in value (1 warp = $0.01) and will never be onchain.

2. We launched warps in December 2023. You had to purchase warps with crypto, i.e. there was no way to purchase them with fiat.

3. Warps were useful for allowing people to pay for certain things *prior* to launching Warpcast Wallet in February 2025.

4. Examples include new channels and invites (offchain and off-protocol) and paying for additional storage and signers (onchain and on-protocol). We allowed minting open edition NFTs with warps for a little while. We also used to allow tipping in warps both on casts and in profiles.

5. Since launching Warpcast wallet, we believe that onchain payments with USDC are a significantly better UX. So we’re gradually moving everything in this direction.

(continued in next cast)

Whatever your decentralized, borderless, neutral, censorship-resistant open blockchain question is, the answer is YES… to Crypto!

Why not deprecate “warps” the whole way?

My vote, back to Farcaster. Stronger brand imho

Many times I find myself typing Farcaster in mobile or browser

Yes.

No questions asked.

Farcaster wins.

Yes. 

One brand is better than 2 for obvious reasons!

Also the name farcaster rocks

yes, but not because that dude arbitrarily used 100x.

are the potential protocol<>product repercussions down the line the main worry?