Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero announced today that Neynar is acquiring Farcaster. Over the coming weeks, Neynar will take ownership of the protocol contracts, code repositories, the Farcaster app, and Clanker—the AI token launchpad that Farcaster acquired in October 2025 and has since generated over $50 million in protocol fees.
"Rish, Manan, and the rest of the Neynar team have been building on Farcaster from the start," Romero wrote. "We think they are the right people to take over leadership of Farcaster."
Romero and co-founder Varun Srinivasan will step back from daily operations to pursue new ventures. Both are former Coinbase executives who launched the protocol in 2020.
Why Neynar Is Acquiring Farcaster Protocol
Neynar has operated as Farcaster's infrastructure backbone since 2021. The company serves over 1,000 customers and powers virtually every major application in the ecosystem. According to Union Square Ventures, which co-led Neynar's $14 million Series A in May 2024, "most roads led back to one company."
Neynar's founders—Rishav Mukherji and Manan Patel—are also Coinbase alumni. The shared lineage extends to investors: Coinbase Ventures backed both companies.
Coinbase Base App and Farcaster Integration at Stake
The acquisition carries implications beyond Farcaster itself. Farcaster's social layer is deeply integrated into Coinbase's Base app, which pivoted toward trading functionality in late 2025 after discovering wallet features outperformed social engagement. With Neynar now controlling both Farcaster's protocol and its developer infrastructure, the company becomes a critical dependency for Base's social stack.
Clanker ranks as the fourth-largest protocol on Base by weekly revenue, generating over $482,000 weekly through token deployment fees.
What the Neynar-Farcaster Acquisition Means for Users and Developers
For users: almost nothing immediately. The Farcaster app and Clanker continue operating normally.
For developers: protocol contracts and code repositories transition to Neynar. Neynar will run developer calls going forward.
For the Merkle team: the Clanker team joins Neynar, while other members disperse to new companies or projects.
