Original Title: I Met Dan Romero, Creator Of Farcaster

Original Translation: Ismay, BlockBeats

Editor's Note: Clanker has continuously hit new all-time highs, bringing Farcaster back into the spotlight. In this podcast interview, we can see how a crypto industry veteran who emerged from Coinbase has led Farcaster from its early stages to become a pioneering platform exploring decentralized social networking. From expectations for Frames V2, to collaboration with Base, and to foresight on Bitcoin's strategic reserve, Dan not only shared his vision but also confronted the ups and downs of a decade in the industry, admitting that "the peak is not as high as you imagine, and the valley is not as low as you imagine."

Left: Dan; Right: Threadguy

The following is the original interview content:

Threadguy: The last time I posted a Cast was probably about five months ago, maybe ten months ago when I discovered Farcaster. I had heard about it before and knew about Lens and those things, but didn't pay much attention. Once I joined, I was mesmerized.

Dan: Wow, really?

Threadguy: Yes, I was completely obsessed for a full two months at that time, couldn't do anything else, just listened to your interviews, especially your two times on Bankless, it was absolutely fascinating.

Dan: Wow, that makes me very happy!

Threadguy: What attracted me at that time was actually Frames. I think Frames is the coolest thing on social media. One-click NFT minting, and the Warp feature, it's really revolutionary. Listening to you talk about these things, I feel you are very knowledgeable and insightful.

Dan: Thank you for saying that!

Threadguy: Later on, Degen emerged, and that period was just insane. I'm really curious to hear your thoughts on Degen, as it was truly a strange and intense time.

Dan: Yeah, it was indeed an interesting time, albeit somewhat unsettling.

Threadguy: Yeah, when Degen happened, I was fully immersed in Farcaster. As things slowed down later on, there was an increasing amount of activity on Twitter, and it was really challenging to juggle both platforms.

Dan: Right, I totally get it.

Threadguy: But what impressed me was how you consistently found ways to attract more core users step by step. Now, it seems like the entire Base S1 season unfolded on Farcaster.

Dan: Yes, there does seem to be a resurgence now.

Threadguy: So, how about the past three to six months?

Dan: It's been up and down. I think you summarized it well. We did have a wave of growth early in the year, and then the excitement level seemed to dip a bit, almost like the air being let out of a balloon. People started asking, "What's next?" But at that time, there wasn't a clear "next step." So naturally, everyone gravitated back to Twitter, lured by new things.

Threadguy: That's very normal.

Dan: But our team kept working hard, focusing on improvements. For example, how to make Frames better, how to strengthen the Base social network, or if you ever forget to post a Cast, we'll remind you to come back.

Threadguy: Indeed, it's easy to form habits but also easy to lose them.

Dan: Yes, absolutely. If you skip posting a Cast for a week, it can create a bit of a mental barrier.

Threadguy: Yeah, there's definitely that feeling of "Will it be awkward if I speak now," kind of like not replying to a friend's message for two weeks, missing out feels weird.

Dan: But I'm the kind of friend who, even if you come back six months or two years later, I'll just reply with a simple "GM," welcoming you back. As long as people are willing to come back to Farcaster, I'm happy.

Threadguy: How do you see the current state of Farcaster then?

Dan: I think we're probably back to the levels of January to March this year, with February being a peak, and now we're starting to see growth in new user sign-ups. As you said, it seems like people's interest in Ethereum on-chain activity has returned. Earlier this year, that activity shifted to Solana, and now it's flowing back to Base.

Threadguy: Why is that? Farcaster feels like an extension of Base, where any activity on Base seems to happen on Farcaster. Is there a connection between the two?

Dan: Interestingly, while Farcaster itself only holds a minimal presence on-chain, we are not actually running on the Base chain. However, I have to give credit to Jesse - I worked with him back at Coinbase. When we launched Frames, he quickly got on board and rapidly developed some tools, significantly lowering the barrier for developers to build Frames on Base.

Threadguy: Wow, that's awesome.

Dan: Honestly, no one else has seized this opportunity yet, but Jesse jumped in and grabbed it, he's really good, a Chad.

Threadguy: He's really hardworking, almost working tirelessly every day, right?

Dan: So I think our relationship with Base is very close, largely because they invested early in Farcaster. They were one of the first teams to open a channel and are the largest channel on Farcaster. Jesse personally uses it, as does Jacob from Zora. I've worked with him before at Coinbase as well.

Threadguy: Yes, there are indeed many former Coinbase employees here, almost like a 'Coinbase Gang.'

Dan: To be honest, I'm not a big fan of that term. Firstly, I think the 'PayPal Gang' is really cool, and comparing oneself to a group of very successful people is a bit awkward. Secondly, while there are many former Coinbase employees here, I feel it's more because Brian and Fred recruited many entrepreneurial-minded individuals during their time at Coinbase. These people learned a lot at Coinbase and are now trying to apply it to their own projects. And Jesse is clearly still at Coinbase, and he's doing great.

Degen Interlude and Coinbase History

Threadguy: As a founder, how did you deal with rapid growth like Degen? Degen can be said to be Farcaster's first 'native peak.'

Dan: Yes, it was indeed a native peak, attracting many people to join at that time. However, they were only here for Degen, viewing it as a money-making opportunity. In short, it was just a short-term phenomenon. As Degen left, many people also left.

Threadguy: That feeling must have been a bit strange, like a void was left behind. How did you handle it?

Dan: To be honest, I've been building Farcaster for the past four years and have witnessed this 90% downturn, whether at Coinbase or on Farcaster. So this wasn't my first time experiencing it. Psychologically, it's definitely tough, especially when you feel like everything is working, and then three weeks later, it suddenly feels like everything is wrong.

However, the most important thing is that Farcaster's core community has been stable over the past year and a half to two years. Even amidst significant growth fluctuations, there is a core group of users — probably several thousand — who actively post interesting content every day. Some may call it 'Christian rap' or 'cringy motivational content,' which might be somewhat accurate, but I don't think it's bad.

Threadguy: The term "Christian Rap" is really hilarious.

Dan: Haha, no matter what you call it, the key is that our community is very builder-centric, with many people working on entrepreneurial projects or NFT projects, and so on. It is because these developers and builders make up the core of the network that we can use the developers' "building blocks" for innovation and programming.

Threadguy: So why did Vitalik post so much content on Farcaster? What is your relationship?

Dan: I have never met him in person. He attended a Coinbase lecture in 2016, when Ethereum was hardly taken seriously. At that time, Coinbase was still a Bitcoin-focused company, and Ethereum was generally seen as an "altcoin." Vitalik was brought to the company by Olaf at that time to give a talk. At lunch, everyone was still discussing this "suddenly appearing person." To be honest, most people were not interested in his project, but a few had already quietly started buying Ethereum.

Threadguy: Did you participate in Ethereum's ICO?

Dan: I did not buy in.

Threadguy: So were you offered the opportunity to participate at that time?

Dan: Of course, it was open at that time, and anyone could participate with Bitcoin.

Threadguy: I see, so when did Coinbase eventually list Ethereum?

Dan: Later that year, we listed Ethereum, which was a significant shift for Coinbase because we had always been focused on Bitcoin. At that time, Bitcoin mining in China was causing a lot of controversy, and the platform could only buy and sell Bitcoin, with no other assets.

Threadguy: Did you have an App back then?

Dan: No, initially we only had the web version. In fact, due to Apple's policy issues, we were kicked out of the App Store for two years. Later, we relaunched the app and gradually added Ethereum and Litecoin as the second and third assets.

Threadguy: So why did the addition of assets slow down later?

Dan: Internal politics was one reason. At that time, although Gary Gensler was not there, people were very wary of SEC regulation. Later, after Balaji (Coinbase's former CTO) joined, he broke many internal concerns about adding new assets and pushed for the listing of more assets.

We had to do this, which can be likened to Google not indexing all websites; you need to cover all assets. Of course, Coinbase does not cover all assets, but this is actually a cultural shift, so when he came, he said: This is what we are going to do.

Threadguy: What was he doing before joining Coinbase?

Dan: He previously ran Earn.com, which started as a bitcoin mining company and later transformed into an "earn bitcoin" company. He was Coinbase's CTO, and then he sold Earn.com to Coinbase.

Threadguy: He only stayed at Coinbase for a year?

Dan: Yes, one year, and he accomplished a lot during that year.

Why Vitalik Uses Farcaster

Threadguy: You met Vitalik in 2016, right?

Dan: Actually, no. I didn't know who he was at that time, and he didn't know who I was. We gradually got to know each other when we started working on Farcaster in 2021, and for over a year, we had no contact with each other.

Threadguy: Weren't you attending conferences?

Dan: Yes, we hardly go to conferences, which may be a mistake. Maybe I should attend all Ethereum conferences and take this opportunity to promote Farcaster.

Threadguy: So, when you attended conferences before, it was for Coinbase?

Dan: Yes, I attended many conferences before for Coinbase. I was responsible for business development and some other work at the time. But honestly, I found most conferences to be a waste of time.

Threadguy: Indeed, very wasteful.

Dan: Yeah, so after working on Farcaster, I stopped going to these conferences. I basically stayed in the office working, and therefore missed the opportunity to meet these people. It wasn't until 2022 that someone introduced us through Signal.

Threadguy: Did Vitalik join in November 2022?

Dan: Yes, two years ago. The day he joined was the busiest day on our platform, adding approximately 4000 accounts, it was crazy.

Threadguy: Wow, how did you get him to join?

Dan: He was introduced by someone, but I don't remember who. At that time, we were still a platform that required invites to join. After he joined, there was tremendous growth.

Threadguy: How did he use Farcaster after joining?

Dan: He continued to use Farcaster, as well as Lens and some other platforms. But ultimately, I think Vitalik is a very genuine person. He focuses on decentralization and truly uses this software. In fact, there are many people in the Ethereum community who talk the talk, enthusiastic about the idea of decentralization, but don't actually practice it.

Threadguy: With such high-minded things, they still continue to use Twitter, which is understandable as their audience is there. How do you wake up every day and compete with Twitter? Gradually nibble at its market, gradually acquire users, although it seems quite challenging.

Dan: Yeah, if I had known a year ago that we would achieve a 10x scale by now, I would have been satisfied. And now we have indeed achieved it, but there have been ups and downs along the way. If you want to enter the decentralized social media field, develop protocols and such, you must be prepared to face these challenges.

Is Twitter a Competitor?

Threadguy: Twitter isn't even the ultimate "top enemy," right? The real players should be Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and Telegram, they are the true applications.

Dan: Yeah, I think Twitter has already lost many users. A large number of those users have shifted to Threads and BlueSky. Of course, those who moved are not necessarily users of Crypto Twitter, but indeed many people are using BlueSky. I remember since the election, their registered user count has exceeded ten million.

Threadguy: Are they really using it? Or did they just tweet a statement and then go to BlueSky?

Dan: That's also a possibility, I can't verify. But I think the bigger issue is how do you attract the general public, or the next billion users. No matter what trendy phrase you use, these people are actually on Instagram and TikTok. And the recent incident on Solana is an example, a token suddenly went viral on these platforms driven by one person.

Threadguy: Right, that's the true network effect.

Dan: Yes, and the current situation on Twitter, I guess crypto-related content might be deliberately suppressed by the algorithm.

Threadguy: Really?

Dan: If you ask me, I would think Musk might be very annoyed by the crypto-related garbage in the comments section.

Threadguy: Do you think he cares?

Dan: Of course. I have done a lot of marketing content publication on X, so I have a good idea of what kind of content performs well in the algorithm, such as the like-to-view ratio. But if you mention keywords like Ethereum, your content may be suppressed by the algorithm.

Of course, if the content is very high-quality, it may still be able to break through the algorithm's restrictions, but the overall benchmark is that it will be downgraded. That's also why most of the content in today's feed is images and videos, because these can increase user engagement time, and the algorithm finds it more challenging to analyze this type of content. You can "exploit" the algorithm by posting videos or images.

Threadguy: Do you think Elon will eventually acquire your company?

Dan: I don't think so, he rarely acquires companies.

Threadguy: Why is that?

Dan: He believes he can outcompete his rivals, and he has a track record of doing so in the past. Companies like Facebook, on the other hand, tend to prefer to buy out their competitors directly, but they won't buy us either.

Threadguy: Do you think the launch of Threads is a threat to Twitter?

Dan: Yes, they efficiently migrated 100 million users from Instagram directly to Threads. I think Threads will continue to challenge Twitter.

Threadguy: Do you really think so?

Dan: Yes.

Threadguy: Oh, are you worried about them? After all, they are the biggest competitor. You wouldn't want to get targeted by Zuck, I assume.

Dan: Absolutely not! They have already started to mimic, for example, they added a following feed. Because BlueSky started growing within a week, they are now testing some features similar to BlueSky. Just like Snapchat back then, it rose rapidly but Instagram replicated the Stories feature and directly took down Snapchat.

Threadguy: Wow, yeah, even Telegram now has a Stories feature.

Dan: Yeah, you don't want to compete with Meta because Meta will crush you. They even acquired a VPN company to monitor competitors' network traffic.

Threadguy: Really?

Dan: Yes, they used to offer free VPN services to see which emerging apps were on the rise, like Snapchat, and then they would directly take them down; this company really shows no mercy.

Threadguy: Wow, have you met Zuck?

Dan: Once.

Threadguy: Really? Where?

Dan: At a wedding.

Threadguy: How was he? Cool?

Dan: He's quite impressive, indeed very powerful.

Threadguy: You actually met him, that's insane!

Dan: Yeah, it was during his "new look" phase, and he did look kind of cool.

Threadguy: What do you think of their brand makeover?

Dan: Pretty good, it was really bad before. You know, his hands used to shake when he drank water at the congressional hearing. But now he looks like an MMA fighter, pretty cool. They even redesigned their Visual Identity (VI).

Threadguy: Haha, do Zuck and I look alike?

Dan: That's too funny.

Threadguy: So are you more focused on Facebook (Meta)?

Dan: I'm more focused on my own growth. But I have to say, the one to really worry about is Facebook. They can roll out any cool feature at any time, or just snatch it.

Farcaster Ecosystem Alpha and Frames

Threadguy: How big is the Farcaster team?

Dan: 14 people.

Threadguy: Is your team all developers?

Dan: Yes, only one designer, the rest are developers.

Threadguy: What do you think is Farcaster's advantage?

Dan: Small team, able to pivot, we are now starting to focus more on-chain content.

In fact, we tried similar things in 2021 and 2022, such as a dedicated NFT activity feed. But back then, the market hit bottom, and almost nothing happened after the FTX event, so we removed these features from the app, feeling they were just taking up space.

For example, the NFT tag on the user profile page is non-existent on the web version, only still present on mobile. This feature was added during the bull market of 2021, when people were all into investing in things like Chain Runners.

Now, some components might start to make sense, and we might consider adding them back. However, there are already many nice apps in the ecosystem, like Interface, have you heard of it?

Threadguy: Never heard of it, what does it do?

Dan: It's pretty cool, it's a social block explorer where you can receive push notifications for any on-chain activity of a person. For example, recently Vitalik bought a token, and then a bunch of people followed him on Interface. Someone took a screenshot, and everyone's feed was filled with "Vitalik bought this token".

Threadguy: Wow, this is really cool!

Dan: There is also an app called Friends, currently in the testing phase. I think it will be big this cycle; it's about to launch. It's a chat app, but with deep transaction integration. Imagine if Telegram were native on-chain.

Threadguy: Sounds very promising!

Dan: Yes, both these apps are part of the Farcaster ecosystem. They leverage Farcaster's data and enrich their app data. I still think Frames is the coolest thing.

Threadguy: Frames?

Dan: Yes, the new version of Frames goes live tomorrow!

Threadguy: What is Frames V2? How does it work?

Dan: Think of it as Telegram's mini-apps. Do you remember the original Frames V1? When it first came out, clicking on dynamic content, you thought, "Oh, this is pretty cool."

Frames V2 takes it further; you can launch any app you want. For example, we can create a live streaming app within Frames.

Threadguy: Really?

Dan: Yes, and you can watch live streams directly in the dynamic view, providing a great user experience. What's even better is you can install it in Warpcast, so you can come back and view it anytime. Additionally, Frame developers can send you notifications like "Live now, join us!" These notifications are pushed through the Warcast app, making it very convenient.

Threadguy: How do you feel about Solana "borrowing" Farcaster's Blinks feature?

Dan: Has anyone used Blinks?

Threadguy: Nope.

Dan: Yeah, not many people have. This was actually an idea from Farcaster. I don't want to criticize anyone because it's good that people are building things. But at the time, I did post a cryptic tweet saying that I would reveal the answer in 90 days. Honestly, I don't think anyone would use this feature because it simply cannot function properly. You can barely run it on a web page, but I don't use the web version of Twitter.

Threadguy: I totally agree, after all, 90% of Twitter usage is on mobile. If a feature can't run on mobile, it's pretty much useless.

Dan: Exactly, so if Twitter is willing to support Frames, theoretically they could implement it tomorrow. If they support Frames or Blinks, it's totally fine, just need to convince Elon. But I think he's pretty busy right now.

Threadguy: What do you think is unique about Farcaster's Frames?

Dan: The advantage of Frames is that even though our application and network scale are small, because the app inherently supports Frames, you can experience it directly in real-time, without diluting the effect of the links, and Frames can directly connect to your crypto wallet, which is a significant differentiator.

What Is Base Relying on to Challenge Solana?

Threadguy: So how did Base defeat Solana?

Dan: I think it's the direct connection of Coinbase's one billion users to the blockchain, that advantage is huge. For example, Phantom is a great app, very efficient, and ranks high in the app store. But compared to Coinbase's one billion users, it's not even on the same level, and they have now directly integrated with Base. You can play on both sides, but my view is that any Coinbase user can directly use Base, and it might become the default option, like if you want to withdraw USDC, it will directly convert to Base.

Threadguy: How many users does Coinbase have?

Dan: It must have at least 1 billion KYC accounts. I think this is a huge moat, but many people in the crypto space don't realize this. Because all these accounts can directly access the blockchain without needing special permission. Whatever assets you hold, you can trade directly on any chain's DEX via Coinbase.

The tight integration between Coinbase and Base, if you ask me why they have been successful, clearly Jesse is like a founder-level employee. Having such talent in a large company is very rare, and his drive and work ethic are just like any founder of a startup. He is also recruiting a very talented team, and the team he has quietly assembled in the background is very strong, making you exclaim, "Oh, my goodness, their team is top-notch."

Jesse is now also in charge of Coinbase Wallet. When I see this, I think, imagine this, a year from now, Coinbase Wallet will be more closely integrated with Base's features. Rather than being a tool that can adapt to all chains, it may prioritize supporting other Ethereum chains, or Solana, Bitcoin, etc., but the best user experience will definitely be on Base. So, they not only have Coinbase, but now also their own wallet. I think this distribution capability and ecosystem will be very powerful.

Threadguy: Do you think Base needs to beat Solana, taking the lead in meme hype such as Degen, or do you think it can win through other means?

Dan: No, I think the overall market will become large enough. One possibility is that both Base and Solana can be successful. Obviously, Solana has already been very successful, but the current situation is somewhat zero-sum game-oriented, with most people's on-chain operations being just that, and the user base is not yet large.

This is another issue – the size of the crypto market is still relatively small. But my personal view is that Bitcoin will be at the core of driving this cycle. When Bitcoin surges, it will drive up everything else, and as a result, people will have funds to buy NFTs, people will start buying art again. Look at Cryptopunks, the price has gone from $60,000 to $130,000 since the election.

Coinbase Employee #20 Dan

Threadguy: Do you have a Punk?

Dan: I have a Punk.

Threadguy: Why does Armstrong use a fake Punk?

Dan: I also gave him this feedback. I really wish I had taken a screenshot of the message I sent him at the time, which said, "Bro, what is this?" You have a nice house, you've been through an IPO, maybe it's time to buy a real Punk now?

Threadguy: What's going on here exactly?

Dan: However, he is still quite genuine. He just doesn't care about this stuff, focusing on other things, like winning elections. US crypto policy will change because Coinbase has invested heavily in Ohio and Montana. Forget about the presidential election, Coinbase has spent a lot of money trying to get those anti-crypto senators out, like Sherrod Brown. Good riddance!

Threadguy: How long have you been working at Coinbase?

Dan: Five years.

Threadguy: Which years?

Dan: From 2014 to 2019.

Threadguy: Are you Coinbase's 20th employee?

Dan: Yes.

Threadguy: What did you do before joining Coinbase?

Dan: I worked at a small startup for a year, a company that made iPad point-of-sale software. Before that, I was a management consultant, and although the work was tough, I learned a lot.

Threadguy: Management Consulting? So, did you start buying Bitcoin back then and then think, "Oh, I should apply to Coinbase"?

Dan: No, Fred was a friend from college, but our relationship wasn't that close. During my junior year, he lived across the hall from me in the dorms when we were both at Duke University. We kept in touch afterwards. One time, when he was working with Brian, who had just raised a Series A from Fred Wilson at USV in 2013, he said to me, "Hey, we're looking for a jack-of-all-trades."

Someone who could do a bit of everything, like handling customer support, ordering food, and other odd jobs – basically someone who could pitch in. The company was growing rapidly at the time, but as soon as I heard the word "Bitcoin," I thought it was a Ponzi scheme and immediately turned it down, saying, "No, thanks." Later, I took a job at a SaaS company for a year. After that, I moved to San Francisco in 2013, where almost every engineer was talking about Bitcoin. I was thinking, "What is this thing really?"

Threadguy: So, you didn't really understand it at that time, right?

Dan: Right, eventually, I took the time to read the Bitcoin whitepaper, and I thought, "Oh, this is actually pretty cool." I began to grasp it a bit. Then in the fall of 2013, I bought my first Bitcoin.

Threadguy: What was the price back then?

Dan: It was really unfortunate. I remember buying it around $100 to $120. The worst part is, I sold when it hit $300.

Threadguy: Ah, no way!

Dan: Yeah, I felt like George Soros at the time, thinking, "Wow, I doubled or tripled my money, I'm so great!" Looking back, though, it was quite painful. But it eventually paid off.

A year later, I applied for a job where I started working on getting merchants to accept Bitcoin payments, like dell.com. Dell had a campaign with the tagline "Dude, you're getting a Dell," where their products could be purchased with Bitcoin. Budweiser also had some events across the U.S. where you could buy beer with Bitcoin.

Threadguy: It doesn't seem like many people are doing that now, right?

Dan: Yeah, but I think stablecoins might become a trend.

Threadguy: Did you think it would become the "next big thing" back then?

Dan: Looking back, it was just foolish to buy something with Bitcoin. What you end up with is a tax burden, it's super volatile, takes 10 minutes to confirm; in any case, people always do stupid things.

Threadguy: When was that?

Dan: 2014.

Threadguy: I was only 12 then. So, what was it like working at Coinbase at that time?

Dan: Coinbase in 2014 had a really strong team back then. But honestly, working at a Bitcoin company at that time was quite strange and marginalized. I was probably one of the most "serious" people in the company, apart from the compliance officer and lawyers.

Threadguy: Really?

Dan: Yeah, think about it, what kind of person would be interested in Bitcoin? Back then, the only associated words with Bitcoin were "Silk Road" and "Mt. Gox," with absolutely no positive aspects.

Threadguy: Did you have a sense of what the future might look like in 2014?

Dan: Not at all, the first few years were completely sideways or downward. In 2014, our team grew to 50 people, but half of them later voluntarily resigned. They felt that the company had no future, sold their shares on the secondary market at a low price, almost as if they were selling scrap paper.

Threadguy: No way?

Dan: Yeah, at that time, the company was valued at around 4 billion dollars, but if these people held on until the IPO, their stake could be worth 100 billion dollars. That would be a 200x return.

Threadguy: Wow, that's indeed a massive return.

Dan: Yeah, but it was really tough back then. Until 2017, as we entered that year, we were still hoping to reach 10 million dollars in revenue. We added Ethereum transactions in 2016, so we were quite excited because the previous year we did reach 10 million dollars in revenue. But in 2017, Bitcoin really took off for the first time, and we did 1 billion dollars in revenue that year.

Threadguy: Your original goal was 10 million dollars?

Dan: Yes, we thought we could reach 10 million, but just in the month of December, we did 300 million dollars in revenue. It was a crazy year, the craziest year of my life.

Threadguy: After 2017, do you think cryptocurrency really took off?

Dan: Absolutely, after that, I was convinced that cryptocurrency would succeed. At that time, I was living in San Francisco, the whole atmosphere was very exhilarating, like being in a carnival.

Threadguy: Oh, that must have been wild. If you tell people you work at Coinbase, they immediately ask you to help with customer support issues and the like. Were those tasks under your responsibility? It sounds like a total disaster.

Dan: Yes, it was indeed a mess. We were working in the office, everyone was in the office, it was like madness. Nobody would leave the office, the air was filled with the smell of people...

Threadguy: What? Nobody left for several days?

Dan: Yes, there were really people who stayed in the office for several days without leaving. Then in 2018, the market crashed, but we raised funds and brought in a "professionalized" executive team. The company atmosphere at that time was a bit like a political struggle in the shadows.

Threadguy: "Professionalizing" the Team?

Dan: Yes, it was like adults taking over the room. Then Balaji came in and cleared out those who didn't fit.

Threadguy: Hold on, what does "cleared out" mean?

Dan: He convinced everyone through a memo, theoretically defeating them.

Threadguy: Is he crazy? What is his style like?

Dan: He is indeed assertive, a very intelligent person, more deeply immersed in cryptocurrency than anyone else. When he came in, he directly questioned, "Why should these non-technical people express opinions?"

Threadguy: The phrase "non-technical people expressing opinions" is hilarious.

Dan: Indeed, that was the company culture at the time. But most of these executives we brought in were indeed not saying the right things. I agreed with Balaji's view, and he was the only one who could persuade Brian that these executives were not the right fit.

Threadguy: So, can we say he saved Coinbase?

Dan: You could say that; he played a very important role in redirecting Coinbase's direction. Of course, many others also made contributions.

Threadguy: What were you doing at that time?

Dan: I was in charge of Coinbase's consumer business, that is, Coinbase.com, responsible for all retail trading operations.

Threadguy: Wow, that's a significant role!

Dan: Yes, so many people on Farcaster think I don't understand retail, but in reality, your first Bitcoin or Ethereum might have been purchased through me.

Threadguy: So you were a "big shot" back then!

Dan: Yeah, I was in that room at the time. Anyway, that was a long time ago. But I've been in the cryptocurrency field for a long time, exactly 10 years this year.

Threadguy: You must have seen some really crazy things, especially during your years at Coinbase.

Dan: Yes, those years did have some strange and crazy things happen. But speaking of which, F, do you have a question?

F: Yes, I've always been curious, how do large institutions and exchanges store the private keys worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars? How do they ensure the security of these assets, and where do they keep the private keys?

Dan: I remember Coinbase wrote a blog post specifically about this. The content was quite astounding; Coinbase's security team is just unbelievably strong.

Starting in 2014, Coinbase had a very interesting system: in this company, the only positions that could earn a super high salary were security-related roles. Because they knew that to attract top talent in the security field, compensation was key.

Think about it, managing the security of tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency is one of the coolest security challenges on earth, probably second only to nuclear weapon security.

Threadguy: I've never thought about this question before; it sounds really crazy.

Dan: Yes, they took extreme security measures in the generation of keys for cold storage. They would generate private keys in a Faraday cage to prevent nation-state-level hacker attacks, such as intercepting the key by stealing data from the laptop's CPU. This level of security is beyond imagination, and I'm sure they have further optimized these processes over the years.

After generating the keys, they would disperse the keys stored in various locations around the world and use a technology called Shamir's Secret Sharing to split and distribute the keys globally. The whole process is extremely complex and secure.

In addition, they also have a full set of custody services, and the reason why their custody business is doing so well is because they already needed to achieve this level of security in their retail business. For example, Coinbase's retail business may need to manage up to $200 billion worth of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other crypto assets at peak times.

Threadguy: So how much money can Coinbase's Chief Security Officer make?

Dan: He should be making a lot.

Threadguy: Wow, that's really enviable.

Dan: He's very low-key and doesn't show off on Twitter. You can find out who he is, but you wouldn't want to mess with him. He's a very serious person, and he's been in that position for a long time and is still there.

Threadguy: Really?

Dan: Yes.

Threadguy: So what did Coinbase do early on to distinguish itself? For example, what kind of innovation or decision did they make?

Dan: I think the most obvious thing is that Coinbase is very willing to embrace regulation and is willing to take the time to do things by the book. In fact, I have been involved in a lot of this work. I was responsible for managing all the banking relationships, which is why you can deposit dollars into Coinbase.

Threadguy: So you were dealing directly with institutions like U.S. banks?

Dan: Yes, but they all rejected us. In the end, we could only find some smaller banks in very remote locations. I went to probably 20 different states, all very rural banks, like some small places in Pennsylvania, and it's the same in Europe.

I was also in charge of international expansion for a while. These things about Coinbase now sound like war stories of an old soldier, because now everything has been professionalized.

Threadguy: Alright, one last question about Coinbase, and then we can move on to something else. What do you think is the most significant lesson you learned at Coinbase that helped you later establish Farcaster?

Dan: I wrote a blog post about Coinbase's pragmatic encryption culture. I believe Coinbase excels at finding a balance between ideology and practicality. In the crypto field, it's easy to fall into two extremes: one being fully decentralized, open-source, and driven by user control, such as the ethos of Bitcoin; and the other being purely profit-oriented, focusing only on how to extract value from it.

Coinbase found a balance between these two cultures. They not only achieved this in their internal culture but also reflected it well in specific decisions. Their starting point is to provide a high-quality user experience while also making decisions that benefit the development of the blockchain ecosystem.

For example, Coinbase could have chosen to "lock up" the cryptocurrency purchased by users, not allowing them to withdraw it to the blockchain. While this approach might have been more beneficial to their business interests, it would not have helped the development of the blockchain ecosystem. At certain key moments in the company's development, Coinbase could have opted for this simpler approach, such as limiting the amount of cryptocurrency users could withdraw from Coinbase.

For most users, such restrictions may not matter, but in the long run, this practice would seriously harm the entire crypto industry's development. To avoid such harm, Coinbase is willing to withstand significant pressure in some decisions, such as public and private criticism from federal regulatory agencies. This is a great example of Coinbase's pragmatic culture: focusing on user experience while insisting on doing the right thing.

The Lazy Student's Cold Start Memoir

Threadguy: In the development of Farcaster, have you also made similar decisions?

Dan: Well, I think many times we focus on making Warpcast as simple and user-friendly as possible, rather than getting caught up in some details. For example, some people might say, "You shouldn't use the name Warpcast; just stick with Farcaster.

Threadguy: Why is it called Warpcast?

Dan: In the beginning, we used Farcaster as the name of the app, but later we felt that this would give the core team a sense of "unfair advantage."

Looking back, I might not have changed the name so early, maybe I would have postponed it to a later time. However, at that time, we did it out of a more ideological consideration, wanting to be a bit fairer.

From a practical standpoint, this might not have been the most efficient thing to do. Because if the name hadn't changed, you would just say, "Hey, download Farcaster," instead of what we have now, having to explain, "First register with Farcaster, then use Warpcast."

But there were also some practical decisions, such as on Farcaster's official website, we directly wrote "Download this app," with a domain like for.com or Farcaster.xyz. We put Warpcast on top, and some people would suggest listing all the clients, but I think, for most people, they just want the simplest way to get started, and that is Warpcast.

So, it's a trade-off. I'm not entirely sure now if the decision at that time was optimal, but that was the decision we made then.

Threadguy: Can you tell us about the story of calling the first 100 users?

Dan: Actually, it was about 400 users.

Threadguy: That's a bit crazy.

Dan: At that time, I contacted about 100 people, through Twitter DMs, texts, Signal group chats, and the like, asking them, "Hey, can I spend 15 minutes helping you join this project?" And that's what I did, it lasted for about four weeks or even longer.

Later on, people started recommending others to join on their own. However, the most frustrating part was that most of the people in my social network never came back after completing the process.

Threadguy: Does that bother you a bit?

Dan: It does a little, I'll keep that in mind.

Threadguy: Do you know what I like about you? The way you come across is very genuine, easygoing, and friendly, but I feel like deep down you're actually a tough cookie, and that's really cool.

Dan: Interestingly, people on Farcaster don't find me all that friendly.

Threadguy: Maybe you've become more "sharp" in these six months? But I think you need to have a bit of an edge. I wouldn't say your image on Twitter or Farcaster is particularly "friendly," but rather very serious.

Dan: Yes, I am a serious person.

Threadguy: You're a career-oriented person, not someone who messes around or posts randomly. I like that about you; you want to win, and you need to take it seriously to win.

Dan: That's right, our initial 400+ users were mostly onboarded through video guides.

Many users actually joined through referrals. But at the time, many people were asking, "Who is this person? He's been away from Coinbase for a year and a half; he probably knows nothing about blockchain." In fact, even now, some people on Farcaster still perceive me this way.

Threadguy: Really? People say that about you?

Dan: Yes, especially those developers. But I'm more of a self-taught individual; I wrote a lot of early code.

Threadguy: So you speak "developer language"?

Dan: Yes, I think our team's developers would say I can hold my own; I majored in English in college.

Threadguy: Really? Why?

Dan: Because I'm lazy.

Threadguy: Really? Just because the course was easy?

Dan: Yes, the course is simple. However, it's actually quite difficult to apply.

Threadguy: Where did you go to college?

Dan: Massachusetts. I worked hard in high school, got into college, but then slacked off in college.

Threadguy: Did you work on any entrepreneurial projects in college?

Dan: I worked on a coupon startup project.

Threadguy: Really? Trying to compete with Groupon?

Dan: Yeah, actually it was before Groupon, before Groupon even existed.

Threadguy: Wow, that could have been successful.

Dan: Yeah.

Threadguy: What was the name of that project?

Dan: It was called Coupon Degen.

Threadguy: That's a good name, but what about the logo?

Dan: The logo was terrible. One of the things I'm known for is creating really bad logos. The logo for Farcaster isn't great either, but the Coupon Degen logo was a disaster.

Threadguy: What did the logo look like?

Dan: It was just a big letter W, extremely ugly, looked like a university crest, very unattractive.

Threadguy: Yeah, that's not good. The Rainbow logo, on the other hand, is very attractive.

Dan: Yeah, Rainbow's logo is really nice.

Threadguy: Do you think Farcaster needs a plush toy? But they're not a plush toy company, right? You seem like someone who would enjoy plush toys. What happened to that coupon company later on?

Dan: In the first year, we received an acquisition offer to work at a Silicon Valley SMS spam company. But we had to drop out. I was actually a bit excited at the time, but my parents didn't think so, and my roommate's parents weren't very supportive either. Both of us are the eldest in our families, so the pressure was quite high.

Threadguy: Is he in the cryptocurrency industry?

Dan: No, he's not in the cryptocurrency industry.

Threadguy: Do you ever feel guilty because of those close to you in your life, like siblings, who haven't entered the cryptocurrency industry and don't know what's happening in the crypto world? Have you tried to bring them into the circle?

Dan: No, I haven't.

Threadguy: Do you ever feel a responsibility to bring these people into the crypto industry? For example, sometimes I think my friends could actually be persuaded by me to enter the crypto world, but the last time I convinced them to join, they bought at the top, and then they started to resent me. Do you feel a responsibility to society to drive these people into the crypto industry?

Dan: When I first joined Coinbase, I told everyone to buy some bitcoin, and about 50% of them listened and bought. Those people are still my friends, and the rest are my family. (laughs)

I would say, among the 50% who bought, half of them sold, and the other half are still holding. So those holding have seen good returns on Bitcoin.

But I usually try to avoid actively discussing cryptocurrency with people. If someone asks, I can talk endlessly about it, but I won't bring it up proactively.

How to Balance the Use of Different Social Media Platforms?

Threadguy: How do you balance the opportunity cost of not being on Twitter with a long-term focus on Farcaster? I find this to be a dilemma, at least personally.

Dan: I think continuing to use Twitter is a very wise choice. I don't want everyone to completely leave Twitter because it does have the largest user base, especially in the crypto industry, where Twitter is definitely the main battlefield.

But here's what I would suggest: if you can allocate 5% to 10% of your time to Farcaster, you can actually build a more loyal community there. Those "real engagers" are more likely to see your content, they may be more willing to support you, and you can share links on the network to distribute content.

You can post some initial drafts on Farcaster to see if they resonate, and then move it to Twitter. I often do this myself, such as posting a meme or joke on Farcaster first, and if the response is good, I'll directly move it to Twitter, which also improves the quality of my Twitter content.

However, if someone asks me to completely quit Twitter, that is unsustainable and entirely unrealistic.

Threadguy: Yes, so this is a bit like "do you have space to use two tools at the same time?" I have given up using Telegram for a long time, and I don't feel any loss. In fact, I think most of the things people do on Telegram, such as saying it's suitable for business expansion or other purposes, if you have a large enough audience on Twitter, people will reach out to you proactively. They will find ways to contact you.

Dan: Yes, they will contact you directly through Twitter's direct messages. Although Twitter's DMs are a bit messy now, if you really want to contact someone, you will always find a way.

This is actually another perspective: if you can reduce the use of some social media, it's not about zero-sum competition but purely about time management. If you can carve out a little more time in a day, that's great, like taking the "infinite pill," and then you can use the extra time elsewhere. But I think you need to have clear goals for each platform's use, and if you don't use a particular tool, don't feel guilty about it.

Threadguy: Yes, it does feel very relaxing. You can freely use Farcaster.

Dan: Yeah, just go ahead and give it a try, on Farcaster or any other platform. In fact, there are some very interesting people on Farcaster, although some people see it as a niche thing.

How to View This Cycle?

Threadguy: You entered the crypto field in 2014, joined Coinbase at the time, and experienced the bull run of 2017, although I wasn't around then. Later, in 2020 and 2021, I became one of the many NFT "small leeks," participating throughout that craze. Now, we are back in the third bull-bear cycle, or rather the third cycle of many. How crazy will this cycle be? Is it the legendary "super cycle"? How much crazier will it get? What stage are we in in our current cycle?

Dan: I feel that we are entering a bull market phase. At the beginning of this year, people were saying the bull market had arrived, but I didn't think so at the time; I thought it was just a head fake. Because, on the one hand, there were still many uncertainties related to the U.S. election that needed to be resolved. The situation is different now because, as the election approaches, U.S. crypto policy will develop in a positive direction. And this will be the first truly favorable policy in history.

Threadguy: How significant will this be?

Dan: This will have a very significant impact on the quality of projects we are about to see. I still believe that everything is ultimately about Bitcoin. I have a lot of faith in the "Sovereign Cycle" narrative. Matt Huang from Paradigm once wrote a short article mentioning this, and I think it makes a lot of sense.

I think you will see some countries directly declare that they have Bitcoin reserves. This may seem simple, like establishing a "Bitcoin Strategic Reserve." It sounds a bit unbelievable, but it could indeed happen. In fact, they don't even need to buy Bitcoin because they already have these Bitcoins—they just haven't sold them yet.

For example, Bitcoins seized from Silk Road or elsewhere could simply be held as a policy not to sell. Whenever they shut down a darknet market or seize Bitcoins from some drug dealer or similar organization, they just need to keep those Bitcoins in reserve. We have gold reserves, so why can't we have Bitcoin reserves?

Threadguy: Didn't they already have a lot of Bitcoin from Silk Road and other places?

Dan: Yes, they indeed have a lot of Bitcoin.

Threadguy: Yeah, yeah, it's a multi-billion dollar market. So, I think this "meme," although sounding silly, if the U.S. really does this, other countries will have to ask themselves: Why have we not put Bitcoin on our balance sheet? What do you think? If such a scenario really happens, it would be perfect, it's what we call a Super Cycle. Subsequently, this effect will spill over into the entire cryptocurrency market. Because when people become very wealthy through Bitcoin, they will start to seek diversification in their investments.

Dan: Yes, and then they will invest in other assets. Once they get into those assets, what will people do? Like, "I feel wealthy now, I want to buy an NFT." Right? Buy some things. Yes, but that's not the core of the cycle; the core of the cycle comes from the cryptocurrency policy changes triggered by Bitcoin. So your Coinbase stock may skyrocket. Of course, this is not investment advice, do your own research, but Coinbase stock is indeed a good index for the entire crypto market.

Threadguy: So, is this the "unlocking moment" that you (Coinbase) have been waiting for? I can imagine that what Coinbase has been waiting for is clear regulation and protective measures.

Dan: Yes, but I think for Coinbase, there is still a big issue that they still need talent, they need people who can come in and develop interesting applications. And now, for the first time in my ten years in the crypto industry, I see infrastructure leading the way over talent.

Every previous bull market, there would be many talented people rushing in, wanting to do something on-chain, but finding themselves facing long confirmation times, high gas fees—issues that didn't exist before. Although the last cycle somewhat improved, the current situation is completely different.

Now, we are in a world where Base and Solana are jointly driving down transaction costs and increasing transaction throughput. This is a significant boon for the entire crypto industry.

Therefore, people can build any application they want, such as Blackbird being a great example. Do you know this company? It is a restaurant reservation platform, but its founder previously sold Resi (a very well-known platform) to American Express. He is that kind of very talented entrepreneur.

In the next few years, cases like this will increase hundreds or thousands of times in the crypto field. They might sell a reservation platform, and then go on to do a similar new project, which is very common in the industry. Although the new project may be somewhat different, they have all the connections and resources to do it all over again.

Threadguy: This is really crazy.

Dan: So, I think this cycle is like this: major assets will experience significant price increases, attracting more people to enter this field. After these people come in, they will find, "Wow, these Layer 2 infrastructures are really well developed." The experience of embedded wallets is also good, and people can really build what they want.

Threadguy: It sounds like you think we are still in the first stage?

Dan: Yes, I think we are still in the first stage. However, the market may still experience some fluctuations, possibly trading sideways for a while. But if there are adjustments to tax policies, it may further drive development.

How to View AI+Crypto

Threadguy: Do you think the current AI craze will bring more talent back to the crypto field? Or more broadly, how do you see the relationship between AI and crypto?

Dan: I may not be as familiar with all the details as you are, you have a better understanding of those dynamics on Twitter. However, from my understanding, Marc Andreessen suddenly turning to support Bitcoin, isn't that quite "old school"? He sent Bitcoin to people at "Truth Terminal," and then "Truth Terminal" was born. Then people will ask, "Can you create a new cryptocurrency?" And then, bam, a new project appears. I kind of forget which one he created.

So now everyone is focusing on AI agents, this meta-narrative. And then everyone is thinking, "Well, I also want to try this, how should I do it?" I think this naturally extends to Farcaster because now building applications on Farcaster is much simpler than on Twitter. If you try to use Twitter's API, they will charge you high fees, and there will be access restrictions, so the number of times you can query is limited.

If you are a developer and know nothing about this, what can you do on Farcaster that you can't do on Twitter? You don't need to apply for permission from anyone; just create an account and get started right away.

Threadguy: What do you think of these tools?

Dan: I think they are pretty cool, a fun experiment. Of course, you may not spend all day interacting with them, but I think there is a performative aspect to it. There is a tool where one AI used another AI to create a tool that can deploy tokens, and this tool deployed a token on Farcaster, which was the first case recently highlighted on Base.

The result is that now people are starting to deploy tokens frequently. Throughout my use of Farcaster, initially there were just some assets on Farcaster, such as a tipping mechanism. But in the past three weeks, there have been about 3000 different assets.

Threadguy: So are you encouraging, opposing, or remaining neutral about this phenomenon?

Dan: We need to be consistent with on-chain activity. If you take a high-handed attitude and think "meme coins are bad," well, you may have built a cryptonative social network, but that network has no intersection with people's actual on-chain behaviors. At the same time, if you dive headfirst into a pure "degen casino," you'll ruin the platform.

Threadguy: Yes, you may encounter some people doing weird things in the live chat.

Dan: Exactly, so my view is that you need to find some balance; that's my way of understanding it.

Content Platform Moderation

Threadguy: How do you handle content moderation on Farcaster?

Dan: That's a good question. Farcaster has different levels of moderation. The simplest is that Warpcast (Farcaster's client) can make an account "disappear" from Warpcast. But that doesn't make it truly disappear from the protocol, right?

However, in terms of actual effect, if the majority of users are using Warpcast and we make an account "disappear," that account is then effectively hidden from the user's view. However, from a "review" perspective, things are not absolute: this user has not been completely banned but rather has violated Warpcast's terms of service. Therefore, if someone posts very vulgar content, we can take stricter measures.

Threadguy: How do you view those strange live stream contents?

Dan: I haven't watched much of those live streams, but I did see one guy's live stream where he was attempting to stay awake for 24 hours straight, aiming to reach a $100 million market cap for his token. He kept streaming, even foregoing sleep.

Threadguy: I thought at the time, this is a bit too much, a bit dark.

Dan: Yes, I think the issue is that once people realize they can make money in a certain way, they get caught up in a constant cycle of escalating for attention. In the U.S., if content like "Pump Fun" is not taken down, they could potentially face legal repercussions. According to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, they do indeed have some risk. However, I heard they shut down the live stream and plan to relaunch under some form of content moderation.

Threadguy: Is it a big deal to have a platform shut down in the U.S.?

Dan: Well, actually, it's quite challenging for a platform to be shut down in the U.S. due to content issues.

Threadguy: Oh, really?

Dan: Yes, even though those large social media platforms take many actions in content moderation, the First Amendment actually provides platforms with a significant amount of leeway to allow various content. However, this does not mean that all content is allowed. For example, if someone were to threaten murder during a live stream, the platform could face some legal responsibility. Additionally, such content is very damaging to the brand image.

Threadguy: But what if the platform is not in the U.S.?

Dan: If a company like "Pump Fun" is headquartered outside of the U.S. and has no fiat banking connections, then banks cannot cut off their funds. If they operate entirely on-chain and perhaps their servers are hosted elsewhere, the hosting provider could shut down their servers, but from a cryptographic standpoint, they could theoretically continue to operate.

This is why I find this situation so ironic. Interestingly, many people on Twitter are saying, "This is terrible, Pump Fun must be shut down." Those advocating for decentralization are calling for Pump Fun to stop livestreaming, which is ironic in itself.

What is ANON?

Threadguy: Well, this is indeed a centralized platform, and they have never claimed to be decentralized. However, people's discussions on this topic are always varied. That being said, can you tell me what this 'anon coin' is? What is Vitalik buying? I've seen it on Twitter, and someone even mentioned me in a tweet, what's going on?

Dan: Oh, this is actually an application that started on Farcaster, to be precise, it was initially developed on Farcaster. The developer of this project is an industry veteran who has been involved in the ecosystem for some time, previously working at OpenSea, considered a frontline developer in the NFT space. He released this application about a week ago, so it's only been about seven to eight days.

The way this application works is as follows: it has a website called the 'Anon Coin' site. To post on this site, you need to hold a certain amount of tokens. The specific amount of tokens required is dynamic. If you visit the website now, you can see the required token amount.

The process is that when you click to post, the backend performs some sophisticated zero-knowledge proof calculations, then verifies if your wallet holds enough tokens. Once verified, you can post under a group account.

Threadguy: So, this is like an anonymous group on Farcaster? Anyone can join?

Dan: Yes, it's pretty much that idea. The concept of 'anonymous posting' is basically like this, but it uses zero-knowledge proof technology, along with some impressive open-source code. So when Vitalik saw this project, he got interested in zero-knowledge proof technology and went to check out this source code. He does occasionally get involved in some projects. I don't always keep track of what Vitalik is buying, but he seems to think this app is cool enough to participate in.

The issue now is that whenever you see an 'anonymous post,' some of them might be speculated as being posted by Vitalik. If you participate in anonymous posts, nobody knows if you are Vitalik, Threadguy, or someone else, which avoids a 'revealing the publisher' scenario.

However, they now have a new feature called the "Claim Feature." If your posted content becomes very popular, you can later claim it. For example, you can say, "Actually, this was posted by me!" This introduces many innovative points.

Threadguy: But what if the website gets hacked?

Dan: In theory, even if the website is attacked, it is not possible to tamper with past data.

Threadguy: But what if a hacker can monitor and change the code in real-time?

Dan: Yeah, but I think there are already people considering how to make all of this more decentralized, like accessing accounts through zero-knowledge proof technology. It's really cool. I think there will be more similar things happening in the future.

Life of Farcaster's Founder

Threadguy: So, do you interact with these developers, saying, "Wow, this is a good idea, you should focus on this, you can try this direction"?

Dan: I will help promote them on Farcaster, then post on Twitter, sometimes DM them, sometimes reply directly below the posts, like "You should add these features." Last week, I made a suggestion, and they implemented it the next day. To be honest, I can't remember the amount of information I absorb from Farcaster every day. There's just too much. I basically spend all day on Farcaster.

Threadguy: What time do you wake up every day?

Dan: I have kids, so I usually get up at six.

Threadguy: How old are your kids?

Dan: One is three and a half, one is two, and one is due in a few weeks.

Threadguy: Wow, you are really super busy.

Dan: Yeah, so I wake up really early every day. Coffee is a must-have, and then I open the application. Usually, I'll see someone has "mentioned me," and that's how I start my day.

Threadguy: So are you the type of person who takes a walk first thing in the morning before looking at your phone, or do you just pick up your phone and check it?

Dan: I just grab my phone. There's no zen moment, no coffee journal or anything like that. However, my office is very close to where I live, just a few minutes away. My office only has two people, me and Veron.

Threadguy: So is it just the two of you in the office, and the rest of the team works remotely?

Dan: Yes, the rest of the team members are remote. But I like it this way. I remember attending their development Zoom meetings before, and I had no idea what they were talking about, but I still joined in, like "going over the top" (laughs). I tried to learn, and at that time, there were nine different development tools that were useless to me. But now it's different, now we have AI.

Threadguy: Are you someone who schedules a lot of meetings, or do you prefer to have fewer meetings?

Dan: We have just one meeting a day, sometimes for 30 minutes, sometimes only 15 minutes, trying to keep it short. After that, we break into smaller groups for quick sync-ups based on everyone's work, like the Frames team will have their own quick meeting. But our team is basically free of red tape; we don't need too many meetings.

Threadguy: Do you think Frames 2 will become a big hit?

Dan: I think it will, we will work hard to promote it.

Threadguy: I notice you're pretty low-key, you never seem to deliberately hype things up. Even when Farcaster was taking off, everyone was super excited, with someone saying, "I can make a million dollars a year just from Degen tips," but you remained calm, simply responding, "New feature, pretty cool."

Dan: Yeah, I am indeed more laid-back; I learned that from Brian Armstrong. His attitude is quite philosophical, "The peak is not as high as you think, and the valley is not as low as you think." If you get too excited at the peak, when the valley comes, you might collapse, burn out, or even give up. So emotions need to be properly regulated.

Threadguy: Do you usually like to read?

Dan: I do like to read, but I haven't been doing much of that lately. I'm basically "plugged into the information stream" all day long (laughs). However, I used to enjoy reading.

Threadguy: You mentioned that you watched some live streams, and they were really popular.

Dan: Yeah, they were really great.

Threadguy: Do you like Twitch?

Dan: Yeah, I quite like it. I think live streaming is cool and very interesting.

Threadguy: Oh, how about that Farcaster app called Stream?

Dan: That app has moved to Solana now, so we don't talk about it anymore.

Threadguy: Why?

Dan: I'm not sure. You can ask the developer about that (laughs). But we have been waiting for a native Farcaster live streaming app. There's an app called Streamm, originally developed by the 3M team, they might still be working on it. Maybe one day we can do a live stream together, that would be cool.

Threadguy: The competition in live streaming must be fierce, right?

Dan: Yes, it's very costly. I can imagine how challenging it is to compete with Amazon.

Threadguy: But it seems like it might be easier to defeat Amazon than Meta, right?

Dan: That's right, because Amazon's culture leans more towards a serious business model, and they lack some of the consumer-oriented flexibility in their genes. So, when it comes to consumer apps, they are not as dominant.

What is Clanker?

Threadguy: "What is 'Clanker'? Quite interesting, do you have any idea?"

Dan: Clanker.World is a project asset name. I tweeted about it at that time just to bring more attention, like yours, and to have Farcaster stick in people's minds.

Threadguy: Indeed, that tweet had a good impact.

Dan: Yes, that was my intention with the tweet - to have people hear "Farcaster" multiple times. If you hear "Farcaster" 30 times in the next month, I can guarantee you will at least come back to check once. That's the goal, so I usually keep a low profile, but occasionally make some noise. This time is my first media appearance.

Threadguy: I saw a tweet mentioning that Clanker World had a one-day transaction volume reaching 20% of Pump Pump.

Dan: Well, they were using the Dune Dashboard to track the data back then, but I found some issues with that calculation method. I looked into that Dune Dashboard, and while its statistics were accurate at the time, I later deleted it because someone pointed out the data was somewhat inaccurate.

I have great respect for Solana and the developers in the Solana ecosystem, including the founders. A few people reached out to me very kindly through private messages back then, indicating that they did not intend to publicly call out my mistake but reminded me that the data was not quite accurate. So I took it down. However, Clanker World did generate a significant amount of revenue, which did catch the attention of the Farcaster community.

Threadguy: So, are you saying that by directly replying on Farcaster, you can deploy a token?

Dan: Yes. That's how things work on Farcaster now. For example, something happening on Farcaster is just that. For instance, I posted a meme or other content, and one of your messages on Farcaster might have been used by someone to deploy a token. Even if you casually say "hey," it could become a new token.

Threadguy: Really? So you can create a token just by saying "@Clanker World create token"?

Dan: It's pretty much like that. And it's based on a Large Language Model (LLM) that can detect your content and even support images and other features. So the stuff people are deploying now is just crazy. And we didn't directly develop these features; it was done by other developers in the ecosystem, like Proxy Studio, which is an anonymous development team.

Threadguy: I tried to DM them to invite them to the conversation, but they replied saying they are anonymous. However, their "intern" might show up.

Dan: Cool. They are a two-person team that only started two or three weeks ago, but they have already developed rapidly, making them a success story. Our goal is to have 100 similar success stories on Farcaster.

The Wild Farcaster Fundraising Story

Threadguy: Do you think Base and Farcaster are almost synonymous now? It feels like everything happening on Base is highly connected to Farcaster. Is it because of the high overlap between these two communities or for other reasons?

Dan: I do think there is a high overlap. As I mentioned before, Jesse is very smart; he saw the Frames project and then took decisive action.

Threadguy: Do you communicate with him often?

Dan: Yes, frequently. He is actually quite low-key, but he has been quietly watching the development of Farcaster. However, their team is currently focused on doing their thing. I think we complement each other well. Some things they do, like developing a smart wallet, will greatly benefit the Farcaster ecosystem.

Threadguy: Such as?

Dan: Such as in the next two years, the user experience (UX) of all crypto applications will improve significantly compared to 2021. Imagine trying to teach someone how to buy an NFT back then, with that complex and clunky process. This time, our user experience will be incredibly good, and I am very excited about it.

Threadguy: Do you think if the crypto industry enters a period of hypergrowth, Farcaster will also experience a breakout?

Dan: I certainly hope so. If not, then we might have a bit of a problem (laughs).

Threadguy: You recently raised a significant funding round, right?

Dan: Yes. Earlier this year, we closed a funding round that took some time to finalize after the growth data came out, but we eventually secured an investment term sheet from Paradigm in February.

Threadguy: Paradigm? That's insane! Was the entire fundraising process challenging? Was it grueling?

Dan: My situation may have been a bit unique... I didn't have a pitch deck, so it was just... yeah, as you said, attending some meetings, making a few calls. No video calls, really no video.

Threadguy: No pitch deck at all? Has something like this happened before?

Dan: I believe others may have been in a similar situation, but we operated in a "radically transparent" mode, where people could see directly what we were up to.

Threadguy: So, you had no pitch deck, you just went to them, told them you're Dan, and then said, "I'm fundraising, the amount is this, the valuation is this"?

Dan: Yes, that was the conversation, no pre-packaged "pitch."

Threadguy: Are you serious? Really absolutely no pitching?

Dan: You can ask those people, there really was no pitching, no ready-made pitch deck, the entire process was the "pitch." Our network, team, and the community we've built were the best demonstration in themselves.

Threadguy: This is insane! So you think there's no need to prepare a carefully planned proposal behind the scenes?

Dan: Right, not needed. We are building in public, people can see the results directly.

Threadguy: You're downplaying it, but this is really crazy! Most of the funds are already in place, right? Your team is only 14 people?

Dan: Yes, we are still following the small team model. However, everyone has their own ideas on how we should spend this money.

Threadguy: Does everyone think you should do something?

Dan: For example, someone suggested that we should set up a marketing team.

Threadguy: But I think you don't need a marketing team.

Dan: Yes, Farcaster users also have a lot of discussions about such suggestions.

Threadguy: So, this way actually makes you feel confident, right?

Dan: Yes, we don't need a marketing team. No business plan is also fine.

Threadguy: This is really insane. Did you use any dashboard tools, like the Dune Dashboard?

Dan: Yes, we used some tools. But this fundraising process was actually very quick.

Threadguy: Was the whole process particularly cumbersome?

Dan: No, it was fast, done within 48 hours. But because it was a large funding amount, exceeding $50 million, it took some time to process afterwards.

Threadguy: Did you just make a few calls and that's it?

Dan: Yes, about five calls.

Threadguy: Wow! Are you the only one making these calls?

Dan: Yes, just me, even done in the parking lot.

Threadguy: Incredible! Does this approach work for everyone?

Dan: It's not a one-size-fits-all approach, but it does work for us.

Threadguy: I feel like this is definitely not a one-size-fits-all approach.

Dan: Yeah, but you see, we raised the money, and now we need to figure out how to grow. It's kind of like getting a mortgage, once you get the loan, you have to figure out how to pay it back.

Threadguy: When you got $225 million, did your focus change?

Dan: Actually, it's $150 million. We had previously raised $30 million, and now we have over $170 million in our account, basically untouched.

Threadguy: Are you especially frugal with the funds, not wasting anything?

Dan: Yes, for example, I've been using my personal laptop. But I recently bought a Mac Mini for $1200, which is the first one for our team. I find it very user-friendly, fast, and perfectly adequate.

Threadguy: What do you use this PC on your desk for? Gaming?

Dan: I have an RTX 4090 card, but I never play games.

Threadguy: Could this card previously be used for Ethereum mining?

Dan: Yes, but not anymore. I also don't mine; I just use it for live streaming. I think live streaming doesn't demand much from the GPU performance, especially since I don't play games or do anything else with it.

Threadguy: Wow, so this computer sounds pretty powerful, huh?

Dan: Yes, and this computer was actually a gift from Frank, apparently part of the D-Gods card.

Threadguy: Your team has only 14 people? Many people say you should build a marketing team.

Dan: Yeah, but I don't think we need one at all.

Threadguy: So how do you plan to achieve growth? How are you going to leverage the opportunities in the crypto market?

Dan: The key is to make the core app's basic functions very user-friendly, especially the foundational part of the social features. At the same time, we need to make Frames and the transaction process as smooth as possible.

Threadguy: It sounds like Frames is a killer feature?

Dan: Yes, but we need to optimize it further and persuade others to develop features based on it. For example, there was someone on Twitter who gave some very insightful criticism of Farcaster; we need to take it seriously.

Threadguy: I forgot his username. He's that guy, friend pet surf coder, or something. Anyway, he has a cool game on Base that is on-chain. We need to get him to be willing to build a framework for Farcaster. If we can't make the platform good enough for his app to migrate over, then that's on us. It takes a lot of effort to achieve that.

Dan: I think you have some very sharp insights, and among them, my favorite is your view on the success of the Farcaster protocol. You believe that we must create a killer app instead of relying on others to develop apps online, even if the network itself has hardly any content.

Threadguy: Right, just like in that movie "Field of Dreams," where they say, "If you build it, they will come." But in reality, it doesn't just happen automatically. You have to actively drive it and make it a reality.

Dan: That's right, in fact, what is currently driving Farcaster's growth is the developers online. However, they haven't developed a Warpcast competitor at the moment, but are building some other applications like Clanker and Anoncast, which have instead integrated with our network, leveraging Warpcast's distribution advantage.

Some Gossip and Insights

Threadguy: Yes, I know there are some other clients as well, such as Supercast. I was actually wondering how Supercast is doing.

Dan: Supercast is still around, they just rebranded today to "Super." They are now fully focused on asset functionality, supporting you in completing all these crazy operations on-chain. For Supercast, now Super, the best-case scenario is when you see "Farcaster or Warpcast temporarily down for investigation" on Twitter, their performance will be the highlight.

Threadguy: By the way, Woj is really a great guy, a family man from Poland, it would be great if he could do a live stream.

Dan: Oh, W, yeah, I know him, he's indeed great, smart, and sharp. However, there are many other applications now.

I think we've finally reached a stage where Warpcast doesn't need to solely bear all the growth work. Now there will be other applications to help drive development. But even so, I think staying focused and continuing to advance is still very important. This focus also allows apps like Clanker and Anoncast to emerge and continue to evolve.

Threadguy: What about Perl? Is it still around?

Dan: It's still around, I really like Ace. He's a very passionate person, I really like him. They seem to be developing a new app now, related to the prediction market, called something like offmarket. I can't quite remember, Ace was one of the earliest Farcaster developers. One time he came to our office, back when I was willing to meet anyone online, and at that time there were probably only about 100 active users per day.

Threadguy: Was Frank one of the earliest Farcaster users?

Dan: Yes, he was, but he took a break for a while. Now he's back, and we'll eventually get him fully onboarded.

Threadguy: Is Brian still using Farcaster?

Dan: He pops in occasionally. He's quite busy, but he sometimes logs in for a quick five minutes.

Threadguy: Will Brian do a livestream?

Dan: He's not too keen on media-related stuff, but I might be able to convince him to do a livestream.

Threadguy: Do you think you can convince him?

Dan: You'll have to be exceptionally convincing for that to happen.

Threadguy: Well, that depends on the chat's performance. Would everyone want to see Brian on a livestream? That would be very interesting!

Dan: I think you shouldn't ask about that dog coin thing, the one from his wedding, what was it called again?

Threadguy: Okay, we won't ask about that. Your phone contact list must be quite crazy.

Dan: Yes, it's an interesting list. But I usually don't grant people access to my phone contacts.

Threadguy: Who is the most famous person in your phone? Of course, you don't have to answer that.

Dan: I won't answer that question.

Threadguy: Hey, have you ever been in touch with Sam Bankman-Fried?

Dan: Yes. My only interaction with Sam was in 2019. At that time, I had just transitioned from Coinbase's Consumer Business to the Institutional Sales Team, which was in a phase of restructuring, somewhat of a "clean-up operation." During this process, I had interactions with almost all major institutional traders, including Sam who was still at Alameda at the time. He was very confident on the call and had many clear and strong opinions on how we could improve our product.

Threadguy: Was it a voice call or a video call?

Dan: It was a video call. We were in the conference room at the time, and he joined via video. He seemed very excited and perhaps multitasking.

Threadguy: Was he playing League of Legends in the background?

Dan: I think he might have been. He did seem to be in a bit of a "bouncy" mood, haha.

Threadguy: What are your thoughts on CZ's situation?

Dan: I think he handled this whole situation pretty well. Four months of probation, and he still gets to keep all the money, that's just insane, right?

Threadguy: Yeah, SPF got a long sentence, and CZ came out unscathed, holding $600 billion.

Dan: What if it had been the other way around? If FTX were fully compliant, how do you think it would impact Coinbase?

Threadguy: I think in that case, Coinbase would have faced more competition now.

Dan: Yeah, I feel like if those competitors hadn't been "evaporated," Coinbase's profit margin would definitely be lower, and the stock wouldn't be as high as it is now. But you could say they pretty much wiped out all competitors.

Threadguy: Yeah, those competitors did indeed break the law. But it feels like you guys are competing with one hand tied behind your back because you are the only ones playing by the rules. Brian is really something. Do you think Coinbase will become one of the world's largest companies by 2025?

Dan: I'm not sure if we can become the world's largest company, but I think as long as there's a cryptocurrency bull market, Coinbase will grow along with the market. But this is not investment advice, NFA.

Threadguy: Haha, okay, NFA. So, when did you get hold of that danromero.org?

Dan: Oh, that domain name is indeed pretty cool. But if you check out dromero.com, that's even worse. That's a wealth management advisor, and he shares the same name as me.

Threadguy: Haha, Romero is indeed a common name, like an Italian name?

Dan: Actually, it's a Spanish name. But in Mexico, "Romero" is very common. I'm not Mexican, but Romero is particularly widespread there. That guy owns danromero.com, and the domain directly redirects to a wealth management website. I contacted him a few years ago and said I'd be willing to buy it for $10,000. He replied, asking for a million dollars. I just thought, well, danromero.org works just fine.

Threadguy: Haha, indeed, that works fine. Your website has some interesting stuff on it.

Dan: I'm not sure if "interesting" is the right word to describe it. Those contents were what I did when I was bored. I had just left Base at that time, hadn't started Farcaster yet, so I casually wrote some stuff on the blog.

Threadguy: How long was that period?

Dan: About a year and a half.

Threadguy: I heard you also studied history during that time?

Dan: Yes, I was studying and did some traveling back then. I didn't have kids at the time, so I had more free time. I traveled for about nine months during that period. Another thing was, I played "Red Dead Redemption 2" and "GTA 5." I had them but never had time to play before.

Threadguy: So were you just gaming during that time?

Dan: Yeah, I was living in a basement in San Francisco back then. My wife had never seen me so engrossed in gaming before. She said, "You literally wake up and game all day, from morning till 10 PM, and then go straight to bed." That was back in 2020.

Threadguy: Wait, did you ever mention why you left Coinbase?

Dan: No, I just felt it was time. I had been there for five years, and I wanted to do something new.

Threadguy: So you took a year off for yourself?

Dan: About a year to a year and a half. I just played some games, read some books, and learned new things.

Threadguy: Did that period have an impact on you? Did it feel significant?

Dan: Well, I think that year was significant for me. I kind of "unplugged" during that time, breaking away from the ultra-woke atmosphere in San Francisco. Working in tech companies, if you focus solely on work, you rarely think about those politically charged issues. During that period, through traveling, I realized that I didn't have to agree with all the viewpoints people were feeding me. I could choose to believe in things that truly resonated with me, rather than what others wanted me to believe.

Threadguy: Was that revolutionary for you?

Dan: I wouldn't say it was revolutionary, but it was beneficial for me. It allowed me to better express my individuality.

Threadguy: Did you not feel like you had your own individuality before? Were you just the typical corporate guy? Following the established processes and doing things by the book?

Dan: Yeah, I was that "company guy." And Coinbase had a similar vibe, right? Brian (Coinbase founder) even wrote a blog post about "no politics talk" before, and 5% of the people resigned because of it.

Threadguy: If you hadn't created Farcaster, what would you have done instead?

Dan: I was trying to convince Verun to start a computer company, essentially making a competing product similar to Mac.

Threadguy: Really?

Dan: Yeah, he had previously worked on a hardware startup, doing things related to hearing aids. But he said, absolutely not! He was very averse to hardware.

Threadguy: Why did you want to do hardware?

Dan: I thought it sounded interesting. But Farcaster was actually another idea. It was right before Musk took over Twitter. I felt like Twitter was being run by a bunch of incompetent people at that time, leaning left, when it should have been more neutral. It's probably leaning right now, but it doesn't matter. Creating Farcaster was a mission for me because the internet's "public square" should be an open protocol, not controlled by any single company. I still feel very strongly about this belief.

Threadguy: Did you know the old Twitter management team before?

Dan: I knew some people.

Threadguy: What about Jack Dorsey?

Dan: He's a really cool guy, I met him once. He's very successful, having founded Twitter and Square, which is already amazing.

Threadguy: Some people say he is Satoshi Nakamoto, what do you think?

Dan: I think Satoshi Nakamoto might be one of those deceased cryptographers, like Hal Finney, or someone else like Szabo.

Threadguy: Have you seen any related documentaries?

Dan: I haven't seen it. That movie is not good, quite trashy.

Threadguy: What are your thoughts on Peter Todd then?

Dan: I think Bitcoin is a great asset, but I am completely uninterested in its dynamics. It's just not important to me. To me, Bitcoin is like a reverse signal. Whatever happens in the Bitcoin community, this thing will keep running on its own, eventually will be very successful, even massively successful, completely independent of what people in the Bitcoin community are doing.

Threadguy: I wanted to ask earlier, do you think MicroStrategy could become a potential risk point for Bitcoin? After all, they now hold about 2% of Bitcoin.

Dan: This question is a bit too "financial engineering" for me. However, I do admire MicroStrategy's conviction.

Threadguy: Have you met Michael Saylor?

Dan: No, I have never met Saylor.

Threadguy: Really?

Dan: Yes, I don't know anyone in the "modern Bitcoin community." The people I know are from around 2014, and then from 2015 to 2016, my focus shifted completely from Bitcoin to Ethereum and the cryptocurrency space.

Threadguy: I see. So, about Dan Romero, there are some cool things - the word "cool," I think, is appropriate. For example, you have posted some posts about some ideas that people can build on.

Dan: Yes, I do have some ideas. Before Farcaster, I had some entrepreneurial ideas, such as "here are a few startup ideas." But now, I don't remember most of them. Later on, I also came up with about 50 ideas that could be developed based on Farcaster.

Threadguy: Alright, even beyond Farcaster, what do you think is currently the most lacking in the crypto space? Are there any crazy ideas that you just can't wrap your head around why no one has done it yet? Maybe there are some smart folks tuning in right now who can tell you why. But for example, why isn't there...

Dan: Well, this needs to be done outside of the U.S. So again, a reminder that you need to research the relevant laws yourself. But why isn't there a crypto-based online Blackjack yet?

Think about it, there are so many people every day who just want to play some money-related games, like Blackjack or similar games. But why has no one done something like this? We have so much blockchain space to utilize. However, I think the U.S. might just outright ban such a thing, but there are many people in other parts of the world who actually want to play these kinds of games.

Threadguy: Maybe the answer is that these people would rather do 100x leverage contract trading than play Blackjack?

Dan: That could be the reason, but that still sounds quite strange.

Threadguy: Have you done futures trading before?

Dan: No.

Threadguy: Can you trade futures on Coinbase?

Dan: You could in the early days because there was no SEC regulation at that time. Back then, everyone thought these were commodity-like trades. But by 2017, the market started booming, and regulations caught up, so you couldn't trade at all after that. So, I've never really been a trader.

Threadguy: So, what crypto assets do you currently hold?

Dan: Among the crypto assets I currently hold, the major ones are Bitcoin, Ethereum, a bit of Solana, and Uniswap, just those.

Threadguy: Oh, Uniswap! Are you friends with Hayden?

Dan: I know him, but we have only had a nodding acquaintance. I'm actually an early-stage angel investor.

Threadguy: Nice, congratulations! So, did you mention Solana?

Dan: Yeah, I bought Solana during this market slump. I have a lot of respect for what they are doing.

Threadguy: Farcaster supports Solana, right?

Dan: You can add a Solana address, but currently, we do not have the 'Frame' feature that integrates with it. That may be an area for improvement for us, though at the moment there isn't much demand for it. Many people are more interested in 'Blink'.

Threadguy: Really? Are people truly interested?

Dan: I think if we release Frame V2 and add support for Solana, the Solana community will definitely come back. But there is this strange 'religious divergence' in the middle because there is some Ethereum chain-based activity on Farcaster, and the Solana community might think, 'Oh, no, this is a completely different belief system, can't touch that.'

Threadguy: Yes, I see what you mean. By the way, I want to ask you a question. Since Brian Armstrong is going to meet with Trump and others, what do you think the most important thing the president or government can do for the development of the crypto field is? For example, what would be the biggest regulatory breakthrough or policy improvement?

Dan: I think there are two points. First, it would be the FIT 21 bill that passed the House last summer but got stuck in the Senate due to opposition from Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown. Sherrod Brown has now retired, but Elizabeth Warren is still there. So, it remains to be seen if this will be quietly inserted into a government spending bill as the current Congress is controlled by the Republicans.

Secondly, I believe the concept of a 'Strategic Bitcoin Reserve' is very clear. If the U.S. were to announce the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and explicitly state that these reserve assets will not be sold, seeing it as an appreciating asset, other countries would certainly follow suit.

Threadguy: So, what is our strategy? Hasn't the price already reflected this because people might not have considered the selling possibility yet? If they say we don't sell, isn't this just an assumption or belief...

Dan: Well, I think when people say "already reflected in the price," they are actually referring to the possibility of anything. Once it's brought up, it's already taken into account, whether it will actually happen or not. But what I want to say is, the second-order effect will make it harder for big money to bet.

For example, if we are truly getting closer to a potential strategic Bitcoin reserve reality, then I think smart people would start thinking about what the second-order effect of this situation would be. For instance, other countries may also follow suit, maybe even the world's second-largest country publicly announcing they also hold Bitcoin.

Threadguy: Could this become a "cascade of availability"?

Dan: Exactly right! This will put pressure on the U.S. to buy Bitcoin at a lower price. However, I believe other countries might be more inclined to want to send a signal that they also hold Bitcoin.

Threadguy: Wow, that's cool! The reason for holding dollars is that other countries also hold dollars or U.S. Treasuries. In other words, countries are like a group of herd-following "lemmings," most countries are not pioneers, they just follow in the footsteps of other countries. By the way, have you asked him about his Bitcoin price target?

Dan: We didn't get a specific number, and I'm at a loss too. But I think we can start by looking at gold's performance. For example, legendary investors like Stanley Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones, in the past few years, even in a challenging regulatory environment, have publicly stated that they bought Bitcoin on a large scale. Now with Bitcoin ETFs, and maybe next up Solana's ETF, institutional funds are slowly flowing into the market.

But I think, eventually, Warren Buffett's influence will gradually diminish, and the "poison" analogy will also become history. If the U.S. really incorporates Bitcoin into its strategic reserves, it will mark a very significant bull market cycle—not just for Bitcoin but for the entire cryptocurrency space. However, the question lies in timing.

Threadguy: Yeah, definitely, I think this kind of thing is bound to happen. But it could be next year, or it could be three years from now. Alright, I have three more questions for you, and then I'll let you go. The first question is a bit random—what was the worst day you experienced at Coinbase?

Dan: We experienced a so-called 'flash crash.' The system at that time, while running as designed, was fundamentally a bad design. Do you know what a stop-loss order is?

Threadguy: Yes, I do.

Dan: Well, a series of stop-loss orders can trigger a chain reaction, which directly caused the price to 'nuke.' I remember it was Ethereum, and the market descended into chaos.

Threadguy: Was it something you guys did?

Dan: Uh, it wasn't something we 'did,' it was the market triggering this situation. Then we received a lot of complaints, and a bunch of federal regulatory bodies got involved.

Threadguy: Was this in 2020?

Dan: No, this was in 2017. That same year, the Bitcoin Cash fork event also happened.

Threadguy: Oh, wow.

Dan: Later, there were accusations of insider trading at Coinbase. At that time, we actually had a policy against trading. I'm not very clear on the investigation results because I had already resigned when it was completed. However, based on publicly available information, no employees were found to have engaged in trading. But, later on, two employees were indeed caught for unrelated matters, about a year or two later.

However, the damage from that incident had already been done. At the time, there was a lot of backlash in the community, with figures like Cobe (a well-known commentator) being very unhappy with Coinbase, believing the whole thing was the result of insider trading.

Well, here's the thing. At that time, we ran into a huge problem where we needed to allow users to access their Bitcoin Cash. Our API leaked information indicating that Bitcoin Cash would be added as a trading pair, so some people started buying Bitcoin Cash a few days before we opened withdrawals. However, Bitcoin Cash is not a security, right? Insider trading usually only applies to securities, so you can't just say this is insider trading for a commodity. But it was indeed a huge black mark.

I remember the immense pressure at that time, with various federal subpoenas coming in one after another, and I was in a key position within the company. It felt really bad, but you just have to grit your teeth and keep going.

Threadguy: So, how do you view the current state and future of crypto media?

Dan: I think one interesting aspect of the crypto space is that traditional media is not that important in this field. Things like what you're doing, such as native crypto media, podcasts, streaming shows, and some content active on X, those are the truly impactful things.

However, I still believe that traditional media is very important for institutional investors. Over the past decade, I've noticed that traditional media has generally had a negative bias towards cryptocurrency, whether it's Bitcoin or Ethereum, so I hope crypto-native media can build a bridge in this regard.

On one hand, we have those contents that are "too immersed in internet culture," which form the foundation of crypto culture; but on the other hand, I don't know how to elevate some more mature, advanced perspectives, bridge the gap, and expose institutional investors to these contents.

I think this is a huge opportunity—not the overly technical content, nor the purely speculative or overly entertaining content, but to let some smart crypto insights shine, able to compete in narrative with CNBC's trash content.

Threadguy: Where do you think independent, more speculative, on-the-ground reporting crypto media like us is headed?

Dan: I believe live streaming is the pure form of the future, it will replace all traditional TV. But the issue is, how do you address the distribution channel problem? Currently, I think one challenge of live streaming is, for example, if you're on Twitch, if you post a live link on Farcaster, no one may watch at all. So the question is, should you use multi-platform live streaming tools like OBS and simulcast to places like Twitter? Perhaps that's the answer, live streams need broad coverage.

Threadguy: The live stream experience is terrible, completely undoable.

Dan: Yeah, live streaming is a must. But there's another issue; streamers should give feedback to the platform, like directly tagging Musk on Twitter, saying, "Hey, I have a huge fan base." He was live streaming "Diablo," so he knows the issue. Clearly, X needs to improve this feature.

Threadguy: He definitely knows it's not good.

Dan: Yeah, when he interviews people like Trump, the live stream crashes, and then he will definitely go train his team. But I feel like until people find a better solution, like this weekend I tried to do a live Q&A on Farcaster, using YouTube's streaming feature, and it was terrible. I used an external mic, and it couldn't recognize it. Then I was like, how do we do this? Trying out some random platforms like Riverside or OBS. I think if I were smart enough to figure it out, I could live stream on all platforms simultaneously.

Threadguy: Are you live on YouTube now?

Dan: No. So for me, the key is to expand coverage as much as possible, but maybe you have a better reason. I used to live stream on both Twitter and Twitch, but Twitter's experience was too poor. After you click the live link on Twitter, you might not even go to Twitch to watch the live stream; you just give up. So later, I thought forget it, focus on Twitch. If someone is willing to watch, they are more likely to stay and subscribe to the channel.

Threadguy: Is subscription important to you?

Dan: Yes, but the issue is the split is too poor.

Threadguy: How much does the platform take?

Dan: First off, if you have Amazon Prime, you can get a free subscription every month, which is nice. But even so, the income Amazon gives you is very little.

Threadguy: You see, the more someone subscribes, the more cost-effective it becomes. But if you only subscribe once, you need to pay $7, and I can only get $2.5. That's the reason for "zero revenue share" — the content is what you create, yet they take the lion's share, which feels almost illegal, right?

Dan: Yes, Twitch does operate like that, but the Kick platform is a bit better. However, Kick is backed by Stake, and that place is a mess. It's filled with gambling streams; they basically mimicked Twitch and launched a similar product claiming they can broadcast anything and even pay to attract streamers. So it became like, those who want to make money go to Kick, but those seeking traffic still go to Twitch. Once Kick's money runs out, the streamers will return to Twitch.

Threadguy: Do you find Twitch's distribution helpful to you, or is your traffic mainly from Twitter and Telegram?

Dan: I think 98% comes from Twitter. That's also why everyone started moving to Telegram, as they can build their Telegram groups, having some autonomy. They can share links in the group; I think that's something many people want to accomplish. We also hope Farcaster can achieve this in the future, like, we will respect external links. But the key is to have enough people using our platform; it's the classic "chicken or egg" issue.

Threadguy: Are you saying that on-chain activities can attract enough people back? For example, earlier this year's Frames and Dapp, if the user base could grow tenfold again to reach a new peak, maybe the platform would be large enough to make people willing to promote live stream links?

Dan: Exactly, that's what we hope to see. When I first encountered Farcaster, I was very obsessed with it. I immediately thought it had to be my focus. I quickly attracted about 17,000 fans on Farcaster. For a new platform, that's quite a lot, right?

Threadguy: Yeah, it's definitely not relying on bot followers; the quality is good.

Dan: Yes, that's the benefit of Farcaster, the fan quality is very high. And if we were to send out a tweet right now, my Twitter mentions would probably be a mess (laughs), totally out of control.

Threadguy: It's not that bad, but yes, it can get a bit chaotic. However, if I post content on Farcaster, I receive very genuine replies.

Dan: Interestingly, many of those who use Farcaster have never really had a true audience on Twitter. When they receive a bot reply on Farcaster, they exclaim, "Oh my, this platform is so rubbish, it's all garbage information!" And I think to myself, "Why can't you understand this?" But that's also the fun part of Farcaster.

Threadguy: Yes, my initial feeling was that those who have fans on Farcaster are usually really cool developers. At the time when it was most popular, like Christian WRA's content was particularly funny. That was the peak of Frames, if you posted an awesome Frame, it would become very popular.

Dan: Yes, that's also our goal with launching Frames V2, we hope they will be cooler and more attractive. Honestly, I'm very optimistic about this. If you can dedicate 5% of your energy to Farcaster, treat it as an additional distribution channel, I think it's meaningful. Slowly build up, maybe it will go from 5% to 7%, 10%, 15%, gradually moving forward.

Threadguy: I understand what you mean, I can do that. You just need to get me to open this app, it's that simple.

Dan: No problem, I can get you to open this app, since you've come all the way here, I'll definitely get you to open it. And we'll also get the folks in the chat room to use it together.

Threadguy: Do people still need invite codes now?

Dan: Currently, anyone can register, they just need to pay $3 through in-app purchase. However, we plan to lower the price while keeping the invite code system. Because if it's completely open for free, garbage information might proliferate. But this is a somewhat complex topic, let's discuss it in more detail next time I visit.

Threadguy: Do you think Twitter Blue can solve the verification issue?

Dan: We are working on some solutions. Also, I'll send you some invitation codes for your livestream convenience.

Threadguy: Alright, final two questions. First, what is Farcaster's next development direction? I must say, I admire you because your ideas are very bold, even a bit crazy, and I like that. So, where do you see Farcaster's future? What key points need to be unlocked? What are your expectations? Can you give us a summary, talk about Farcaster's current status and future development direction?

Dan: My goal is to focus on winning the crypto community's attention, especially Crypto Twitter's focus. We will start from the Ethereum community and then expand gradually. I want to attract all crypto world discussions to Farcaster; this is our current top priority. So, there are no "side quests"; I won't pay attention to the political circle or the demands of CP fans. We only focus on the crypto field, aiming to make Farcaster the best social network in the crypto space.

At the same time, at the underlying level, we will ensure that developers' APIs and modules can run smoothly so that developers can develop cool apps like Clanker and Anon based on this.

The second point is Frames V2. We will launch some new features tomorrow, and there will be more updates in December, creating topics and buzz every week. My goal is to make Farcaster the best tool for interacting with the blockchain, providing the best user experience, especially on mobile. When you're bored on the couch flipping through content, see something, just click to complete an action. No need for complex "connect wallet" steps, and no bad user experiences—everything runs smoothly. That's our vision. If we can succeed in this field, then we'll consider the next "summit."

Threadguy: Did you rehearse these words in advance?

Dan: No (laughs).

Threadguy: Alright, one last question. Chat room friends, let's give Dan Romero a wave of "W" (win) right? Show some warm love!

(Chatroom Spam: "WWWWWWWWW")

Alright, now we have over 600 people listening. Can you give everyone some words of encouragement? Especially those who haven't "succeeded" in the crypto field yet, they are working hard, trying to find a way out. How can one succeed in the crypto industry or in life? What advice do you have for everyone in 2024?

Dan: I still want to reiterate a phrase I said before: The peak is not as high as you imagine, and the valley is not as low as you imagine. If you can make a little progress every day and sustain this progress for ten years, then I believe you will achieve good results.

Threadguy: Dan Romero, that's awesome! You are a legend!

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