​​Farcaster sees 400% increase in daily active users amid ‘frames’ frenzy

Daily active users on the Farcaster protocol — a decentralized network for social media applications — has spiked a staggering 400% over the last week following the introduction of “frames” on its social media application Warpcast.

Daily active users on the Farcaster network grew from approximately 5,000 on Jan. 28 to over 24,700 by Feb. 3, according to Dune Analytics data. Frames were added to Warpcast on Jan. 27.

The influx of new user activity has been linked to a spike in interest for “frames” — a new innovation that allows users to engage with external links and applications without leaving the Warpcast app.

The volume of new daily “casts” has surged to reach more than 2 million as of Feb. 3, a staggering 1,000% increase from roughly 200,000 the week before on Jan. 28.

Frames allow users to mint NFTs, make transactions, claim tokens, read external blog posts and answer surveys without having to sign a transaction or leave the app itself.

Founded by ex-Coinbase engineer Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan in 2020, Farcaster describes itself as a “sufficiently decentralized” social network. While many often confuse the two terms, Warpcast is a social media application — or client — built on top of the Farcaster network.

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Frames are powered by Farcasters EdDSA authentication system, meaning there is “no wallet drain risk” for transactions made via a frame, said Romero in a Jan. 30 X post.

An easy to miss part of frames is it's powered by Farcaster's EdDSA auth system.

1. UX — every Farcaster user already has an EdDSA in the app they are using whether Warpcast or Supercast or something else. Every Farcaster client supports frames under the hood.

And for…

— Dan Romero (@dwr) January 29, 2024

However, the spike in activity on the Farcaster network temporarily saw Warpcast suffer through a period of “degraded activity” on Feb. 4, according to an X post from Farcaster founder Dan Romero.

Unlike other decentralized social media platforms such as Friendtech and DeSo, using Warpcast doesn’t require a consistent stream of transactions or purchases to utilize the more basic features of the app. Users are encouraged, however, to connect an Ethereum wallet to experience the full breadth of features on Warpcast, which include interacting with frames, minting NFTs, and claiming airdrops. 

Farcaster’s rapid growth comes at a time of diminished activity for other decentralized social media platforms such as Friend.tech.

While the Base-based social app dominated the decentralized social media landscape last year, daily transactions on Friendtech have plummeted more than 97% from all-time highs notched in August last year.

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