Farcaster is marrying social media and Web3 to onboard the masses

Farcaster has taken crypto by storm, but more must be done before it achieves mainstream popularity

article-image

Antlii/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Following the launch of Frames, Farcaster, the protocol behind the much-talked-about social network Warpcast, has gained significant attention in the crypto sphere.

Frames is a feature that enables users to embed functionality on Farcaster applications without having to leave the app itself.

This may sound simple at first glance, but is something that was not achievable on previously popular Web2 social media platforms like Facebook.

In an interview with Blockworks, Antonio García Martínez, a former product manager at Facebook and founder of Spindl, noted that in Facebook’s earlier days, the social network wanted to create ways to incorporate ways you could interact with siloed media experiences on its platform. 

Read more: Q&A: Dan Romero and Jesse Pollak think this may be Farcaster’s ‘inflection point’

Facebook used to be the one social network that everyone was on, and the idea was you would have, like, a Spotify player with a play button on your feed when your friends share what they are listening to or something like it, but it never quite came together,” Martínez said.

The latest Frames feature is the first step in making this dream a reality. With blockchain technology that incorporates aspects such as identity, money and payment rails, developers are now able to use it to interact with apps outside of it and create in-context experiences.

“The cool thing about it from a marketer’s perspective, is the typical user funnel — clicking on one thing, going somewhere else, putting in my financial credentials — all of that gets compressed down to just this nexus of the social layer,” Martínez said.

The reason this is possible is that when a user is signing up for a Farcaster application — like Warpcast — Farcaster creates an underlying wallet for that account that can be connected or associated with a real wallet. 

Although at this point in time on-chain transactions are not yet a functionality on Frames, it is something that Martínez believes will happen in the near future.

Biggest consumer app in Web3?

Martínez notes that in Web3 today there has yet to be a popular consumer app, and mainstream users are unlikely to use a product for its cryptocurrency features. 

Read more: The crypto infrastructure is here, but where are the apps?

What is important, though, is being able to create products that enable users to interact with experiences that they would not otherwise be able to access on Web2, like group listening through a music provider, Martínez said.

“There’s a lot of excitement, but you know 20,000 new users on Farcaster is pretty small in the scheme of things, it’s not even a rounding error on the Facebook dashboard, but we’ll see, it’s growing pretty fast,” he said.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

Decentralized money was a “very unpopular goal” when concepts were proposed in the ’90s, said Nick Szabo

article-image

Cove aims to deliver “risk-adjusted yield” through curated DeFi vaults

article-image

The best capital markets are open to the most people — and crypto capital markets are open to everyone

article-image

Post-conference musings on Firedancer, Kraken, Solana Mobile and Trump

article-image

Executives expect others to follow SharpLink Gaming’s lead in purchasing an asset that has surged this past month

article-image

After a weekend of tariff policy shifts, investors appear confident that trade deals are underway