This report is produced by JUMP's enterprise intelligence service for marketers. Ongoing analysis of Farcaster's ecosystem is available for enterprise customers.
Overview
Whether it's called DeSo (decentralized social), web3 social, or crypto social, one thing is true, social media applications that leverage blockchain infrastructure have arrived.
Farcaster has emerged as the current leader within crypto social and this report outlines the five key layers in its ecosystem.
When infrastructure is redesigned, the user experience and application layers become dramatically different. For brands, creators, and developers, understanding this ecosystem is critical.
Layer 1: Ethereum (security blockchain)
The bedrock of Farcaster's ecosystem is Ethereum. This layer provides Farcaster's ecosystem with decentralized security and infrastructure for any data that is stored onchain.
Given the higher costs and slower speeds when compared to L2 scaling solutions, Ethereum is not a viable solution for Farcaster's day-to-day operations.
Layer 2: Optimism (operations blockchain)
Optimism is a Layer 2 scaling solution built on top of Ethereum. One of its primary use cases is to reduce the cost of storing information onchain and increase the speed of transactions, while still leveraging Ethereum's security properties.
When you create a Farcaster account, your unique Farcaster ID (FID) number is stored on Optimism.
Users and brands control their FID, not Farcaster. This is currently the only piece of Farcaster's ecosystem that is placed onchain. This gives users full control over their Farcaster "account" or "identity". Neither Farcaster nor Optimism have the ability to take a user's FID away from them.
Layer 3: Farcaster Hubs
Farcaster Hubs is the protocol layer that controls the state of the network. However, it is not a blockchain, at least not yet. Any entity can launch a Facaster Hub and contribute to its decentralization.
This network of servers is similar, but not identical, to Bittorrent's network. These servers work together to verify the state of the Farcaster network and the information it provides to Clients that build on top of it.
A user's posts is the most critical piece of information that is currently stored at this layer. The information that is stored within the Farcaster Hub network will continue to evolve over time. For example, Channels within Warpcast are not currently stored within Farcaster Hubs, however there are plans to add Channels within the near future.
This layer allows for important information to be managed in a decentralized manner, while not incurring the limitations of current blockchains.
Data stored within this layer can be associated with a Farcaster ID and is made available to all Clients at the layer 4 level.
Anyone can launch a Farcaster Hub.
Layer 4: Clients
Clients built on Farcaster serve as the primary interface that users interact with. In some sense, Clients are "portals" that pull in FID and the user data associated with it.
The most popular Client within Farcaster's ecosystem is Warpcast, which is built by Farcaster's core team. As Farcaster's daily active user's grow, it will attract more teams and companies to build Clients.
If Farcaster achieves mass adoption, there will be a Client for virtually every niche. You can think of this as the "unbundling of Reddit", where every sub-Reddit could be its own branded Client.
It will be important for Clients to build unique use cases and services on top of Farcaster in order to create sustainable businesses. When this occurs it will create a valuable feedback loop. Businesses will receive access to a rich network, while also contributing to a shared repository of information stored onchain and within Farcaster Hubs.
Layer 5: Frames
Frames are an open canvas to create apps for users to engage with. The use cases are virtually limitless and exponentially extend what can be experienced within any Client.
It is worth emphasizing that users have significant influence over the organic distribution of Frames through their posts.
Summary
If web2 social platforms are walled gardens, Farcaster has built and open world for users, brands, creators, and developers to move freely. You can create a Farcaster account here, or connect with me on Warpcast here.