Farcaster founders join stablecoin startup Tempo after Neynar acquires social protocol

Farcaster co-founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan said Monday they are joining stablecoin-focused startup Tempo, signaling a pivot away from crypto-native social media and toward blockchain-based payments.

The move follows last month’s acquisition of Farcaster by Neynar, a long-time infrastructure provider for the protocol that offers APIs and tools for developers building on the network.

Farcaster was once pitched as crypto’s answer to Twitter, a protocol-based alternative where users controlled their identities and data. After Neynar’s acquisition, Romero, Srinivasan and several members of their team at Merkle, the company behind Farcaster, stepped away from the project.

In a post on X, Romero said he’s now focused on building a “fast, inexpensive and transparent” global payments network at Tempo.

Launched quietly last year, Tempo has quickly drawn attention as one of the most well-capitalized new ventures in the stablecoin space. It was incubated by payments giant Stripe and crypto venture firm Paradigm, both of which have deep experience in building and scaling financial infrastructure. Tempo’s goal is to power international payments using stablecoins, offering an alternative to traditional cross-border systems that remain costly, slow and opaque.