Social media protocol Farcaster made waves this week, thanks to the success of its X-like client, Warpcaster.
The standard version of the story goes something like this: In late January, Farcaster released Frames, a feature that allows external sources to be displayed natively in the Warpcast feed. This piece of technology allows developers to build cool things like order flows for Girl Scout cookies in the app. As a result, users are flocking to what could become crypto’s new public square.
This is all true, but the app also comes from crypto, where profit potential is often a driver of user interest. Much of the Farcaster coverage this week showed this graph of Farcaster’s parabolic usage growth:
Data from the same Dune Analytics dashboard shows that each of the 10 most popular posts (casts) this week used Frames to promote NFTs and other assets. Many of the posts required users to like and rearrange the posts in exchange for a free coin.
Some Warpcasters have noticed this. A host of the /replyguys channel complained that they were seeing “channels being flooded with [altcoin references] about [the] last two days.”
In an interview with Blockworks this week, Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero said he wasn’t too concerned about funding Warpcast and other Farcaster customers.
“Distribution is distribution. I think in the case of crypto obviously, if you have a wallet, there will probably be a little bit more financialization for some use cases,” Romero said.
“But I want to emphasize this: I think some of the most creative Frames are not overly financial,” Romero continued.
Read more: Q&A: Dan Romero and Jesse Pollak think this could be Farcaster’s “inflection point.”
The NBA has filed a lawsuit over Mark Cuban’s Voyager deal
The NBA was “grossly negligent” in failing to block a promotional deal between now-bankrupt crypto firm Voyager Digital and the Dallas Mavericks, a class-action lawsuit filed in a Miami district court alleges.
The lawsuit alleges that the NBA had a responsibility to review all marketing campaigns related to the league, including Voyager’s with the Mavericks and owner Mark Cuban.
The Mavericks announced a five-year exclusive partnership with Voyager in 2021, offering fans $100 worth of crypto for signing up with the platform. Cuban and Voyager CEO Stephen Erlich promoted the deal at a press conference with several Mavericks players. Cuban is facing his own class action lawsuit over his Voyager promotion.
Voyager filed for bankruptcy in mid-2022 amid the fallout from the collapse of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.
Read more: Mark Cuban will be dropped off next month in Voyager ‘Ponzi’ suit
Voyager’s law firm, McCarter & English, is also named in the lawsuit. It’s the latest in a series of lawsuits filed by athletes, sports teams and now leagues over ties to crypto companies.
Read more: Golden State Warriors and Steph Curry are facing a class action lawsuit from FTX investors
One interesting statistic:
- NFT Collection Nobody, which uses generative AI to let owners chat with their NFT characters, saw 11,208 ether in sales volume this week, according to DeFiLlama. The next most traded collection had a volume of less than 3,000 ether.
Also important:
- Mastercard has announced a “Web3-powered trivia competition,” where users can compete for UEFA Champions League match tickets in trivia competitions unlocked with an NFT pass.
- The NEAR Foundation and D3 Global are applying to create a .near top-level domain (TLD).
- Avalanche-built first-person shooter Shrapnel launched early access to the Epic Games Store for some users.