Farcaster to repay 180 million to venture backers after protocol sale to Neynar

Romero wrote that Merkle Manufactory intends to return all invested capital, describing the move as part of a transition after the sale. Neynar, which provides infrastructure for decentralized social applications and is backed by Haun Ventures, said it is acquiring Farcaster and plans to shift the protocol toward a more developer focused direction.

Romero also addressed speculation about Farcaster’s future, writing that the protocol will continue to operate. He added that Farcaster recorded about 250,000 monthly active users in December and has more than 100,000 funded wallets.

Some backers publicly supported the repayment plan, including former Coinbase executive Balaji Srinivasan, an early Farcaster investor. In a separate X post, Srinivasan wrote that investors would receive their capital back and added that the handover to Neynar could help Farcaster move closer to its long term goal of deeper decentralization.

Merkle Manufactory was founded in 2020 by Romero and Varun Srinivasan and is backed by venture firms including a16z Crypto and Paradigm. Farcaster was last valued at a reported $1 billion after a $150 million Series A round in 2024.

As GNcrypto wrote on 8 December 2025, Farcaster said it was shifting focus from its social network to its integrated crypto wallet after co founder Dan Romero noted the team had not built a sustainable growth engine for the social app. The report added that protocol revenue in the fourth quarter of 2025 was $1.84 million, about 85% lower than a year earlier, while the wallet was described as the fastest growing product in the ecosystem.