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No, Farcaster is not trying to replace Crypto Twitter.
But Farcaster’s Ecosystem Lead Linda Xie is laser-focused on the crypto-native audience.
The crypto social app isn’t gunning to be the next Instagram or TikTok, either. Instead, there’s a built-in wallet, financial rewards up for grabs for building a Farcaster mini app, and a leaderboard for top posters that mimics more degen trading platforms.
“The team has spent five years building out a social graph in the crypto space, and that’s really, really tough,” Xie told me in an interview. “And so now we’re at the point where we’re going from social to adding the wallet.”
The social media app ecosystem is pretty crowded, with many options to choose from. The wallet world is also crowded: Lately we’ve seen a surge in more established apps like Robinhood and the Coinbase Wallet adding social elements, plus a slew of new startups trying to reimagine crypto trading from a social-first perspective.
With so many options and so little time, traders will be forced to pick a few to focus on that reward them the most.
What makes Farcaster different, I’d argue, is that it’s effectively an Apple- and Google-approved crypto ecosystem hosting its own mini app store within the app itself.
Farcaster can help early crypto builders find their first 100 or 1,000 users, with a core audience that already likes and understands crypto.
“You’re able to do things that just aren’t even possible on Twitter,” Xie said of Farcaster’s permissionless ecosystem. “You can iterate really quickly, put things out there, have people try using it and see what happens.”
She noted that builders don’t have to pay Farcaster or get its permission to build and distribute a mini app there.
“As a builder, it’s crucial to be gaining distribution off the bat,” Xie said.
By the numbers
On CT, you might see a lot of joking and troll-posts about how Farcaster has “no users.”
But such claims aren’t accurate when you look at the data. It’s not on the level of Twitter, of course, but it has its own community.
On Monday, Xie told me that Farcaster’s number of daily active users varies a lot, but said that number is in the “tens of thousands” of users per day.
“What we’re really focused on looking at is the number of funded wallets, especially the ones with meaningful balances,” she said.
Xie added that Farcaster has seen over 100,000 total wallets funded so far.
A look at Farcaster’s vibrant mini app ecosystem
After our conversation, Farcaster saw a spike in iOS downloads this week, Appfigures data shows, which may be due to Farcaster’s decision to reward some users who deposit USDC on Base into their Farcaster wallet with a match of up to 10%, or up to $500.
Crypto loves free money, of course, but it does seem like the world of Farcaster mini apps has a lot of rewards up for grabs that some CT diehards might be leaving on the table by not exploring the app.
To me, Farcaster’s app ecosystem feels like a more refined, user-friendly version of the Telegram crypto mini app world.
Appfigures estimates that Farcaster has seen over 65,000 iOS downloads this year, and over 25,800 Android downloads this year.
Google data shows Farcaster has seen over 500,000 total downloads on Android, and Appfigures’s algorithm suggests Farcaster has seen at least 400,000 iOS downloads in total.
Going forward, the Farcaster team is continuing to support features its crypto-native audience actually wants.
Xie said Farcaster is looking into adding “more privacy features” long-term, and has continued to add support for more blockchains. Most recently, they added BSC support, perhaps in part due to the recent surge in memecoin activity on that chain.
She added: “We want to be the place where crypto people are talking, where they’re transacting, and it’s like, regardless of which chain it is, like, we just want the user to have the best experience.”
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