Dan Romero on Farcaster

Dan Romero pfp

In the next few months, the Farcaster protocol will have the most meaningful increase in DAU decentralization since we started. Base will be adding a Farcaster-powered feed to Coinbase Wallet—an app that has millions of existing users and wallets with balances. They will have a paths for both existing users and new users to onboard to Farcaster, i.e. creating FIDs. That's a meaningful, tangible step toward increasing decentralization on the protocol. So if you're claiming that we're making changes to limit client competition, you are, in fact, factually incorrect (both in what we are working on at the protocol level as well the likely outcome after CB's launch).

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Dan Romero pfp

Our original thesis was incorrect: a decentralized permissionless protocol would allow other clients to grow users for the protocol. This evolved into product-led protocol development (see blog post). And even that has fallen short on the most important thing developers want: daily active users and user growth. Updated version of this philosophy: 1. Make the underlying data and APIs as open as possible 2. Ensure that accounts / identities are portable and sovereign 3. Build an opinionated, high-quality client that is relentlessly focused on user growth. There will be reasonable criticism early on "how can I trust you won't stop building the protocol", but time and consistent shipping on protocol promises will earn trust (and assuming 1 and 2 actually work). 4. At some sufficient scale—not sooner than 10M+ DAU at the protocol—work on further decentralizing the protocol / hardening it from capture. And because you have a big client, you can do that. https://danromero.org/product-led-protocols.html

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Jonny Mack pfp

#4 is delusional. at that scale organizational incentives are too powerful to justify working on anything other than maintaining centralized control and capturing value. no high growth enterprise will risk losing the goose that lays golden eggs

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EdisonChen不是陈冠希 pfp

EdisonChen不是陈冠希

Twitter was originally a protocol

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rish pfp

makes sense on paper. would have created a different farcaster outcome in this case because fewer developers would have flocked to it in the early days. they def came for the protocol. that might be a fine outcome, just different.

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Jacek.degen.eth 🎩 pfp

Jacek.degen.eth 🎩

Totally agree—devs want DAUs, and that’s why v2 frames are so powerful. They let you test ideas fast, get instant exposure, and when you’re ready to scale, you turn it into a full app—which naturally becomes a Farcaster client. That’s where DEGEN is now. The brand has grown beyond just Warpcast, so building a client makes sense. The best clients will come from people or projects that already have reach—because they can bring in net new users to the protocol. If you’re just experimenting, launching with a frame is perfect since you tap into Warpcast (and soon Coinbase Wallet) users right away.

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KMac pfp

The thing about all four of these is you've been doing these all along. Revealed preference. The only difference now is you are admitting to yourselves. It's a welcome change. Finally stated. We all ride or die with your app. The ecosystem has had to put all its eggs in your basket. LFG

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Christian Montoya 🦊 pfp

Christian Montoya 🦊

I prefer this strategy

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meta-david 💥| Building Scoop3 pfp

meta-david 💥| Building Scoop3

A year ago, I would have heavily disagreed on point #3, but after exploring many different decentralized protocols, I've come to realize how important that point is. Point #2 is the one I've been using to evangelize and onboard other creators on to the protocol. A major pain point is having to build up communities across all these disparate platforms...here you build once, and it's yours. An app in the mold of a TikTok or IG can be spun up on the Farcaster protocol tomorrow, and you already have your peeps. :)

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Suji Yan pfp

A practical question: is Xmtp will be abandoned in cb wallet or farcaster do not plan to have protocol level dm?

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rafa pfp

I think it’s still possible to do your original thesis… although I do think the strategy looks very different in practice (Ethereum). Good to see though you’ve found your footing. And big supporter of product-led protocol development.

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krel pfp

the product-led protocol thesis was soooo compelling/alluring, probs main thing that pulled me to farc

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Joshua Fisher ⌐◨-◨ pfp

Joshua Fisher ⌐◨-◨

@joshuafisher.eth

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Mike | Abundance 🌟 pfp

Mike | Abundance 🌟

Somewhere in the mix there has to be a robust open source client version. The "highly opinionated" version works for some but also causes a lot of attrition. There is a steep learning curve to understanding Warpcast culture and far too many new quality users end up leaving bc their casts are nearly invisible

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Julia - BeHuman Explorer pfp

Julia - BeHuman Explorer

very interesting thinking evolution - because it only confirms what a friend told me about a year ago and we agreed over good dinner it's true: 1/ distribution is all that matters, i.e. every protocol has to build a distribution path (for social network, it's a social client) 2/ every protocol can only survive if it supports builders and gets them users (not waiting for builders to get the users for the protocol) 3/ sufficient scale starts at 100M+ (here we disagree, but you are closer to the problem, hence you should be closer to the truth) love this, finance world nerd's delight

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Mike Fiuk pfp

This is really sharp thinking. Appreciate you calling out where the original hypothesis was incorrect, what you’ve learned, and an updated hypothesis on the way ahead. Rooting for the team and excited to see @farcaster continue to grow!

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Moali.base.eth pfp

It is going to be huge

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