The Network School, founded by former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, has acquired the decentralized social platform Farcaster from Neynar. The deal includes the Farcaster application, protocol repositories, and related products. Following the acquisition, Farcaster will be rebranded as the Network State Protocol.
Under the new ownership, the platform will implement a social smart contract system. Users must agree to these behavioral rules to receive an access NFT. The rules prohibit hate speech, threats, fraud, harassment, and the misrepresentation of AI-generated content. Non-compliant users will be restricted to read-only access.
The platform plans to integrate AI-based moderation and human-verification checks to combat bots. While the future of the token-launch platform Clanker remains uncertain, reports suggest it may be spun off into a separate project. Neynar co-founders Rish Mukherjee and Manan Patel will depart, while other staff will join The Network School.
Farcaster was originally developed by Merkle Manufactory, which raised $150 million in a 2024 funding round led by Paradigm. In January 2026, Neynar acquired the platform from Merkle Manufactory, leading to a full return of $180 million in capital to investors, including Balaji Srinivasan.
