Farcaster’s Daily Active Users Soar by 400% due to ‘Frames’ Frenzy

The Farcaster protocol, a decentralized network for social media applications, has seen a remarkable 400% increase in daily active users in the past week after introducing Frames on its social media app, Warpcast. According to Dune Analytics data, the number of daily active users on the Farcaster network has jumped from approximately 5,000 on January 28 to over 24,700 by February 3. Frames were added to Warpcast on January 27. This surge in new user activity has been attributed to the interest in Frames, a new feature that enables users to engage with external links and applications without leaving the Warpcast app. As of February 3, the volume of new daily “casts” has exceeded two million, marking a significant 1,000% increase from the previous week.

Frames allow users to perform various actions, such as minting nonfungible tokens (NFTs), making transactions, claiming tokens, reading external blog posts, and answering surveys, all without having to leave the app or sign a transaction. Farcaster, founded by Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, former Coinbase engineer, describes itself as a “sufficiently decentralized” social network. It’s important to note that Warpcast is a social media application built on top of the Farcaster network, and Frames are powered by Farcaster’s EdDSA authentication system, ensuring that transactions made via a frame carry no wallet drain risk, as stated by Romero.

The increased activity on the Farcaster network resulted in a temporary period of “degraded activity” for Warpcast on February 4, according to Romero. Unlike other decentralized social media platforms like Friend.tech and DeSo, using Warpcast does not require a consistent stream of transactions or purchases to access basic features. Users are encouraged to connect an Ethereum wallet to fully experience the wide range of features Warpcast offers, including interacting with Frames, minting NFTs, and claiming airdrops.

Farcaster’s rapid growth is occurring at a time when other decentralized social media platforms, such as Friend.tech, are experiencing a decline in activity. Despite dominating the decentralized social media landscape in 2023, daily transactions on Friend.tech have dropped by over 97% from their all-time highs in August.