What new developments has Farcaster seen recently?

Warpcast Rebranding: Farcaster's flagship app, Warpcast, has been rebranded to "Farcaster" to reduce confusion among new users. The team is also considering open-sourcing the app's codebase, which could inspire new experimental clients.
Pro Subscription Plan: Farcaster is introducing a $10/month "Pro" subscription with advanced features like 10,000-character posts and 4-image uploads. Revenue will fund the Creator Rewards Program, which distributes $25,000 weekly to top users.
First Airdrop Campaign: Farcaster's native wallet has facilitated $110,000 in airdrops (e.g., $CELO, $WCT) to active users. Projects may exclude multi-airdrop participants, so long-term holding is advised for future distributions.
Ecosystem Expansion: Beyond Base, Farcaster is integrating Celo and Monad testnets. A Solana wallet is in beta, aiming to boost Solana mini-apps. More blockchain integrations are expected.
Coinbase Wallet Integration: Coinbase Wallet 2.0 will natively integrate Farcaster, enabling posting, trading, and mini-app discovery within the wallet. This could significantly grow Farcaster's user base.

Source: Bankless

Compiled by: Deng Tong, Golden Finance

The Farcaster ecosystem has been growing rapidly, with new airdrops, new blockchains, and new features recently launched. Let’s quickly recap some of the biggest highlights.

Warpcast Rebranding: Farcaster is a decentralized social networking protocol. You can create social applications on it. We have seen various clients (such as Herocast, Litecast, Super, etc.), but the most popular by far is Warpcast, which is the flagship application developed by the Farcaster team.

That being said, many new users are confused by the naming differences between Farcaster and Warpcast. People tend to ask "Are you on Farcaster?" instead of "Are you on Warpcast?" and so on.

To solve this problem, the Farcaster team decided to simplify the process and renamed both the Warpcast mobile and web apps to Farcaster.

Another interesting detail: the team has discussed open-sourcing the codebase for the Warpcast app, which could spark a new wave of projects that apply this infrastructure to other, more experimental Farcaster clients.

Pro Subscription Plan: In addition, Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero has just confirmed that the team is preparing to launch a new "Pro" subscription level for Farcaster advanced users. Premium membership is expected to cost $10 per month and will provide advanced features such as a lineup of 10,000 characters and 4 picture uploads per post.

It is worth noting that all proceeds from the on-chain subscription system will be distributed in a flywheel manner to Farcaster’s Creator Rewards Program, which has distributed $25,000 USDC per week to the top posters on Farcaster.

“The protocol needs to find long-term revenue streams that can sustainably fund rewards for streamers and developers, not just any one company,” Romero explained. “We initially thought storage fees could serve as a reward, but we realized that in order to foster growth, storage should be essentially free.”

Farcaster’s first airdrop: Earlier this year, Farcaster launched a native wallet for its mobile and web apps to facilitate transactions with its thriving mini-app ecosystem. Now, the wallet is gradually becoming a hub for convenient airdrops.

Farcaster has some of the most active on-chain users, and crypto projects are always eager to win their favor. Therefore, Farcaster has been working with third-party teams to distribute airdrops such as $CELO and $WCT directly to Farcaster wallet users. To date, $110,000 has been airdropped this way, and more distributions are in progress.

The win-win idea is that these teams can attract new high-quality users while increasing the appeal of Farcaster.

The first batch of airdrops averaged about $10 each, providing a convenient way to top up your Farcaster wallet. However, Linda Xie, head of Farcaster's developer ecosystem, pointed out that some projects will exclude users who have participated in multiple airdrops before. If you plan to participate, please consider holding as long as possible to maximize the chance of future distributions.

New ecosystems are coming: Base is by far the most popular public chain in the Farcaster project, but we are starting to see more diversity in the ecosystem. For example, the Celo and Monad Monad testnets have recently been integrated into Mini Apps and the Farcaster wallet, and even larger integrations are coming.

First, Farcaster is currently developing a new Solana wallet in beta, which will be fully launched soon. Its arrival should be a significant catalyst for the Solana Mini Apps space.

If the team continues to roll out support for new ecosystems like these, they will be well positioned to establish Farcaster as one of the top hubs for social activity across all the top blockchains. Stay tuned for those developments.

Coinbase Wallet Integration: Coinbase Wallet, one of the most popular applications and on-chain gateways in the cryptocurrency space, has been completely rebuilt for the upcoming 2.0 version. One of the main new highlights of this revamp is the native Farcaster integration.

In other words, you will soon be able to post and trade with Farcaster directly within the Coinbase Wallet. The wallet will include a social feed for scrolling and commenting, as well as a search and discovery flow for the Farcaster Mini app.

This new wallet experience is not yet available to everyone, but you can join the Beta waiting list via this form. If you are accepted, you will receive an invitation link.

Considering Coinbase’s reach, this integration is expected to significantly increase Farcaster’s active user base in the coming months.