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The "Farcosystem": Sufficiently Decentralized, Degenerate, and Delightful
Farcaster is having a moment, and it's not a flash in the pan...
Forefront
February 12, 2024
Happy Monday!
Welcome to the 179th 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…
Unlonely presents: Love on Leverage
Unlonely’s hit reality dating show “Love on Leverage” is starting TONIGHT featuring Cooper, with episodes including Li Jin, David Phelps, Mia Soarez & DefiWill throughout the rest of the week. You’re not going to want to miss out - add the show to your calendar here.
RSVP here to add all streams to your calendar, & tune in directly here on Unlonely @ 5pm PST / 8pm EST 🫡
Week’s Highlight
Farcaster – the “sufficiently decentralized” social network – is having a moment, and it isn’t a flash in the pan.
DAUs are settling down at a rate 20x higher than they were this time last month, catalyzed by the launch of Frames and $DEGEN. In the last week, it also became possible to mint from directly within a frame. Zora quickly followed up this feature with Boosts, which allow you to “load up” a mint with gas paid on your collectors’ behalf. The results have been a magical experience for onchain media.
To summarize all of the incredible things happening across the ecosystem, Cooper (in collaboration with Forefront) released a Farcaster Ecosystem (Farcosystem) Map. While not entirely complete – since new products are being released every day – the map provides a great view on everything happening on the network.
Alana Levin from Variant also released an essay examining opportunities across the Farcaster stack, which spark plenty of discussion and ideas throughout the community.
Throughout all of the hype, Base has clearly stolen the show as the chain for all things Farcaster and consumer crypto.
What new experiences will we see this week? Well this past weekend, an App Store for Frames launched, so surely more fun is coming.
If you’re crypto curious and not on Farcaster, you’re missing out on the web3 social use cases that folks have been preaching for years. They’re here.
What’s Poppin’
Crypto: The Game has come to an end – the results were heartwarming!
Crypto: The Game captivated a massive part of the crypto community this past week. The game, modeled after “Survivor,” was the brainchild of Dylan Abruscato, Tyler Cagle and Bryan Lee. @MFL_tw took home the grand prize, a participant from rural Japan for whom English is a second language. He won people’s hearts through kindness and the outpour of happiness and support over the win has been great to see. While many participants said the fun of the game was the ruthlessness and backstabbing between allies, it was a big heart that came out on top in the end.
This essay by Shinya Mori explores the concept of creating systems that benefit all participants, contrasting it with zero-sum scenarios where one party's gain is another's loss. It delves into the role of crypto in fostering positive sum games by enabling new coordination mechanisms and positive externalities, particularly in the context of public and anti-rival goods. The essay discusses how crypto protocols can solve traditional coordination problems and argues for designs that continually generate positive externalities to sustain positive sum states, potentially leading to a regenerative, resilient society.
Matthew Ball, the premier “metaverse investor,” examines the evolution of technological terms such as "cyberspace," "virtual reality," and "Metaverse." The essay traces their historical context and how they've been reshaped over time. Ball highlights the dynamic nature of tech language, influenced by advancements in spatial computing and the Metaverse, and the impact of big tech companies on these terms. Additionally, he provides insight into how our understanding and interaction with digital spaces and interfaces evolves with new technologies. This is a fascinating exploration of how terms catch on alongside a large, evolving ecosystem of technological development.
The latest innovation in NFTs (ERC-404), reminiscent of Unisocks, is taking Ethereum by storm. It is essentially a fractionalized NFT, with components of both ERC20 liquidity and ERC721 non-fungibility. Millions are being printed, but given that it didn’t go through the traditional ERC approval process, there are concerns around its safety. Developers (calling themselves “The Avengers”) are working to ship a newer version of the standard this week.
After successfully performing a suite of test runs, Ethereum’s core developers announced Thursday that they plan to deploy the network’s landmark Dencun upgrade on or around March 13—finally ushering in a set of tools that could dramatically increase the speed and affordability of Ethereum transactions. Proto-danksharding, known as EIP-4844, is the marquee feature of Ethereum’s upcoming Dencun upgrade. The development, which has been anticipated for years and stalled repeatedly, is a preliminary version of danksharding, a process that will streamline how data is verified on Ethereum L2s. Instead of verifying large swaths of data on Ethereum rollups, danksharding will sample and verify tiny pieces of that information.
Multichain Pill
Solana saw 5 hours of downtime last week, re-raising concerns about its reliability.
Meanwhile, Solana support may be coming to Farcaster very soon.
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