@jacek0x: Farcaster acquisition rumors, Base competition, and trading pivots

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So I guess there’s a rumor going around that @farcaster_xyz might get acquired. I have no insider info obviously, but we can at least look at where the chips have fallen. Farcaster has pivoted into trading. Base app has also pivoted into trading, so now they’re competitors. Farcaster has Clanker, Base has aligned with Zora, so they both have “launchers” (even if Zora is still its own independent team). Either way, Base is the bigger boy. My understanding is a lot of casts / network activity are coming from Base, though I’m not 100% sure that’s right. And so far it feels like the execution of the Base app has been met with… not a ton of enthusiasm? Expectations were definitely higher. Coinbase has deep pockets and distribution, sure. But if Robinhood had looked at all the trading platforms that existed when they launched, they probably would’ve never started. And Base isn’t the Robinhood of DeFi right now, not even close. So I don’t think this gets decided just by who has distribution and deep pockets today. A lot of outcomes are possible. Farcaster could still win here if they want to, and honestly someone else could too. That said, the team being quiet could mean a bunch of things. Maybe they took a quick break. Or maybe after acquiring Clanker and pivoting to trading, they’re heads down doing strategy + go-to-market + building the thing around that. I don’t really know. Either way it would be really sad to see the protocol get acquired by a giant like Coinbase. At that point the “decentralized social” thesis for Farcaster is basically gone, and us (or someone else) has to fork the protocol. Anyways this is all gossip. Gn degens.

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@jacek0x: Farcaster acquisition rumors, Base competition, and trading pivots

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Farcaster may be acquired, according to a rumor the author says they cannot verify. The author notes that Farcaster has pivoted into trading with Clanker, while Base has pivoted into trading with Zora, making them competitors. The author says Base is the bigger player, that a lot of network activity comes from Base (though they are not sure), and that Base app's reception has been less enthusiastic than expected. The author also argues that Coinbase's money and distribution will not settle the outcome alone, and that a Coinbase acquisition would end Farcaster's decentralized social thesis and could push people to fork the protocol.

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misha· 10 months ago
I wonder if Coinbase would acquire Farcaster, what are they buying? Only the Farcaster app? Or could they acquire power over the protocol level too? Since I guess there’s no decentralised governance over the protocol as far as I know.

Probably if CB acquires FC they will just kill FC app in time in favor of their own app and maybe integrate Clanker and some stuff they like.
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timSubmitter· 10 months ago
Or could they acquire power over the protocol level too?

But Jesse just said the other day that Base isn't interested in social anymore. So why would Base buy a social protocol?

maybe integrate Clanker and some stuff they like.

Yes, and at the same time that somehow feels really unnecessary, no? Clanker doesn't feel sticky to me unless you have a compelling product people go back to and clank every day.

Maybe it is my pessimism at the moment but I feel like that's gonna be a very down-round-feel like acquisition if anything. Something that frees up the time of people working at Merkle to do other stuff.

Or, if I have to be extremely optimistic, it'd be something like Robinhood buying Farcaster and Dan actually going for crypto trading on there. Which would be nuts.
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