Farcaster is Speedrunning Cryptonative Dreams

A rich developer ecosystem, L3s, new experiments, onboarding users... this is what we've been waiting for.

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Forefront
February 19, 2024

Happy Monday!

Welcome to the 180th edition of the Forefront Newsletter, now more dynamic than ever. If you’re new here, we give you a weekly roundup of the best news and insights at the intersection of crypto, culture, and community.

We’re always looking to improve the Forefront Newsletter. Drop any feedback on the Farcaster /forefront channel.

This week we’re covering:

Let’s get into it…

Week’s Highlight

We discussed Farcaster here last week, but frankly, this is where the magic is happening in crypto right now. You can’t do a Week’s Highlight without discussing Farcaster.

BORED, aka BoredElonMusk, wrote a piece reflecting on his week off Twitter. While he’s not planning on quitting Twitter, “Whether Elon steals my account, or I just move on from Twitter because it makes me sad, my ability to generate a high quality following on a decentralized platform has given me real hope for spreading the Bored identity across the internet in many places beyond the bird app.”

Decentralization brings choice, and choice is important to a healthy social ecosystem.

Speaking of choice… Syndicate launched a new choice for developers who want to create scalable frames: Frames L3. Built with the OP Stack top of Base and Celestia, 0.01 ETH funds many millions of transactions.

As Farcaster grows, analysis and data is becoming more valuable. Andrew Hong published this authoritative piece on finding and analyzing Farcaster data.

Finally, the FC team announced some priorities on the most recent dev call, including combatting spam and message lag across clients, bringing “mint with warps” to other NFT contracts, and more.

Web3 social is happening on Farcaster.

What’s Poppin’

From Li Jin: “Recently, we hosted a fascinating discussion about loyalty and points programs at the Variant office. The conversation covered best practices from the web2 loyalty space and how they could be cross-pollinated to crypto; the distinction between points and tokens; what kind of rewards and redemption experiences users care about; and whether to put points onchain.” Some of the takeaways include points as a tool to move users up the loyalty ladder, regulatory drawbacks, and more. Pair this with this essay: What’s the Point?

This piece from Lemniscap discusses the limitations of centralized social media platforms and explores the potential of decentralized social networks like Farcaster. It highlights the issues of censorship, privacy, and control on traditional platforms, proposing decentralization as a solution. The piece delves into Farcaster's architecture, emphasizing its decentralized nature, which allows for user autonomy, reduced censorship, and an open-source approach. Farcaster's unique features include an Ethereum-based identity layer, off-chain data storage, and a flexible application layer. The article also covers the broader landscape of decentralized social networks and their potential to reshape online interactions.

Worldcoin may be the most notable crypto x AI intersection, but it certainly isn’t the only one, and it might not even be the most interesting. This piece from Galaxy delves into how blockchains offer a new framework for transaction settlement and data storage, while AI revolutionizes computation and analysis. The article explores various integrations of crypto and AI, focusing on decentralized computing, AI-tailored GPU offerings, and AI agents. It addresses key themes like the role of zero-knowledge machine learning (zkML) and the challenges of integrating AI with blockchain, emphasizing the potential for AI to enhance user experience and smart contract functionality in crypto.

This essay critically examines the trend of blending physical and digital aspects (phygital) in products, particularly in fashion and collectibles. It discusses the evolution and implications of token-gated merchandise and NFTs in validating authenticity and ownership. The piece delves into the cultural and economic impacts of this trend, questioning its utility and value for consumers beyond marketing and status symbols. It also touches on issues related to authenticity, such as the sneaker reselling market, and reflects on the broader social and ethical implications of phygital goods.

Multichain Pill

  • Uniswap is deploying on Zora Network. With Zora building its reputation as the “content chain,” it’ll be fascinating to see what new use-cases and tokens launch with a trusted DEX onchain.

  • BTC L1 payments are no longer supported by Coinbase Commerce. BTC maxis are mad. Udi Wertheimer, founder of TaprootWizards, agrees with Coinbase's CEO that L1 Bitcoin payment UX is poor, citing their own challenges with long transaction times, non-fixed payment amounts, high fees, and Lightning Network's limitations during a high-demand sale.

  • Yuga Labs acquires Proof, opening Kevin Rose and co. to a new wave of criticism.

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Fun with Fundraising

  • Witness raises a $3.5M seed to bring more actions onchain.

  • MetaStreet raises $25m to unlock the largest untapped yield source in crypto – NFTs.

  • Watches raises $1.9m to bring the luxury watch marketplace onchain.