29 Seconds of Farcaster, September 29, 2025

29 Seconds of Farcaster ... What did you miss this weekend?

Some good discussion about the SkyCastle project and launch. I find that in moments like these — when there is debate over a project — while I'm sure it's not fun for the people involved, those of us observing can learn a great deal about this space and how things work. 3 thoughtful casts linked at the bottom if you are interested that will lead you to other casts

@funghibull announced @playlarp --a weekly crypto fantasy game where you select your tokens for the week and hodl to see who wins the week. Early access, beta atm

@tryemerge by @atown continues to capture the imagination on the Timeline, which is rare--10 days straight of people enjoying creating 'workflows' to stylize your pfp--more use cases coming

Bracky was busy this weekend with European football, American football, The Ryder Cup, & the baseball season ending. $BRACKY on the weekends is now a staple FC activity for many

@betrmint held a @ponder contest for an art piece this week & after a good turnout of voters, @valentinaartt was the winner. She will create an art piece for a spin day this week and will make ~ $600 in support. That's what $BETR does.

/gmfarcaster today at 11:30 AM EST with their first 'ClankerCaster Monday' under a new Clanker Sponsoship, guests @katkartel.eth @svvvg3.eth will join @adrienne & @nounishprof to talk MintedMerch. Get all your FC & Base App News 💜

Here are the 3 casts about SkyCastle mentioned above:

Toady Hawk on Farcaster

Some of the takes I’ve seen about @skycastle so far have been missing the forest for the trees imo; either overanalyzing, mid-curving, or both.* To me, Skycastle isn’t trying to be just another VC accelerator… it’s trying to be something that this space has been missing greatly for a very long time: A Network-Native, White Glove Launchpad With Built-In Distribution. Farcaster (and Base more broadly) has never had a shortage of clever builders with interesting ideas for apps, projects, and protocols. We’ve got that covered. What’s far more rare however are founders who can pair great ideas and technical chops with compelling branding, effective marketing, strategic distribution, authentic community-building, professional infra… all the things that actually matter for long-term success. That’s the real reason most projects stall. A good idea, even well-executed, just isn’t enough anymore. Which is why I got v excited when @itsbasil and @garrett asked me to join Skycastle as a founding partner and builder advisor. I want to see Farcaster win. I want to see Base win. And I want to help builders see the magic that can happen when a clever concept and clean code (plus the easy-breezy token launching made possible by @dish and co) meets a network that actually deeply understands distribution. If I were launching @betrmint tomorrow, I’d be applying to Skycastle today. Sure, @netnose has the technical chops (and then some) and I can cover a lot of the other bases. But with the caliber of minds in this advisor cohort, it would be foolish of me not to leverage their advice, tooling, distribution, and guidance. Why wouldn’t I want direct distribution support from @clanker, @noiceapp, and @clicker? UX help from @limone.eth? Infra guidance from @splits, Neynar, and Privy? I would. At the end of the day, if you flip over the “tokenize everything” coin, the other side might read: “curate winners.” That’s what makes me bullish on what $SKY can accomplish… finding hungry, talented builders and giving them the tools and knowledge they need to succeed. Clanker has made it grade-school-level easy to launch tokens. They’ve launched us into the clouds. Now it’s time to build a castle. ☁️☁️🏰☁️☁️

Farcaster

basil on Farcaster

$SKY launch — addressing day one concerns, then getting back to building. read that back: literally "day one" tl;dr - only 10% of supply was free-float at launch; it was quickly absorbed. 90% is locked & subject to cliffs/vesting. - we’re behind a mandatory 7-day clanker vault; treasury movements begin october 2. then we’ll migrate funds into splits/teams, hedgey vesting, and publish all addresses. - $SKY is not a trader meta. it is an alignment & incentives token for partners, council, contributors, and founders moving through our incubation pipeline. - “NAV model” is directional guidance. dashboard + automation come after we incubate & ship projects; think quarters, not days. - partner/council composition will broaden (esp. under-represented voices) as we scale from 30 → 64 → 100 with a real pipeline & clear roles. i have to think about effective coordination. - fair launch doesn’t fit a network-level coordination token. we chose controlled supply, long locks, and fat contributor incentives over day-one distribution games. 1) market cap, FDV, and float - free float at launch: 10%. that’s the only supply that could trade. - result: it was quickly bought out; slippage is high; there isn’t much circulating supply right now. - FDV vs market cap: with ~10% float, market cap ≈ 1/10 of FDV until more supply vests. - next step: after the 7-day clanker lock ends on oct 2, we’ll begin treasury movements to the vesting contracts & update public dashboards/trackers so basic metrics are correct. 2) locks, cliffs, and vesting (no supply pressure) - everyone is under a lock; no one can sell right now, except that 10% float. - partners: 6-month cliff (hard lock), then 18-month vest. - council: 6-month lock, then 6-month vest. - founders: 6-month lock, then 30 months vest (longest locks). - day-one incentives: up to 5% available for early programs (referrals, office hours, ecosystem contributions). these are *work-earned distributions*, not unlocks to dump. 3) launch mechanics (anti-snipe, no pre-announce, pricing) we used clanker’s v4.1 anti-snipe decay (80% → 0% over ~15s) and didn’t pre-announce. that deliberately reduced sniper concentration & chart sabotage. this was going to get eaten either way. the one thing i would change: we likely priced way too low (targeting ~30 ETH starting market cap). that let early buyers absorb a larger share of the 10% float than ideal. lesson learned; distribution would have been flatter at a higher initial price. the long locks & low float still achieve the prime objective over time: control supply; align incentives. 4) who SKY is for (and how to acquire it) - $SKY is not designed for first-hour flips. it’s for contributors & aligned participants. two practical ways to build a position: - slow-accumulation (small, periodic buys to manage slippage). - earn it through contributions (referrals, office hours, hands-on incubation help). 5) contributor incentives (how you earn SKY) - referrals: 0.1% of supply per successful referral that graduates the program, capped at 50 total. that is a very meaningful allocation. - office Hours / mentorship: paid in SKY for active, high-leverage help on live incubations. partners prioritized. - ecosystem work: bounties & scoped contributions as we scale. these are meaningful payouts (worth thousands of dollars at time of issuance), because we want real help from people who want to push the ecosystem forward with us 6) the NAV model (what it is / isn’t) think of NAV as our north star for value capture & defense. sequence, not promise: we’ll first get builders through the pipeline, then publish holdings/positions/addresses, then implement automation (buybacks, streaming, etc.). realistically, the automation sits at the back of the roadmap. the immediate deliverable is incubation output, then transparency (addresses, vesting, positions). 7) partners, council, and “cabal” concerns we’re building a pipeline, not a chatroom: ideation → prototype → GTM → distribution → token design → capital → launch → scale. each phase needs clear owners & top-tier operators. that’s what the 30 partners represent. diversity: critique heard. the initial network skews male because it bootstrapped from our existing (imperfect) networks under launch pressure. we will use the 64-seat council & subsequent expansion to actively recruit under-represented talent & perspectives. hold us to it. 8) why launch the token first? the token is the product that coordinates the whole engine: it pays/aligns partners & council, rewards referrals & contributions, and ties incubation outcomes to holders. the incubator is onchain by design; the token is the coordination layer we build around. 9) “5% take” for founders (is it predatory?) our standard ask is ~5% of token supply for end-to-end advisory (strategy, product, token, GTM, distribution, capital, ops) with zero cash & no equity. in our view, that’s extremely founder-friendly versus current alternative market offers. we only win if the project wins; there’s almost always no rent skim on revenue, and no equity drag it's essentially free. you can come to us with no capital, company, or revenues & you still receive direct access to many of the highest leveraged founders here plus participation in our tailored incubation approach. it's unparalleled. 10) skin-in-the-game founders (me & @garrett) each contributed 2 ETH to treasury & are on the longest locks/vesting. three years. partners each contributed 1 eth. they are locked for 6-months, then vest over the following 18 months. that is FOREVER in crypto. nobody gets “free money” here... we either compound NAV or we lose it all. 11) “why not a fair launch?” fair launches are great for some memes & communities. $SKY is a network-level coordination token that must control supply, front-load incentives, and align a hundred operators to push founders through a repeatable pipeline. that requires locks, cliffs, and budgeted incentive buckets, not open-ended day-one distribution. 12) what happens next (near-term plan) - 10/2: clanker 7-day vault ends; begin moving treasury → splits/teams & hedgey vesting. - publish: addresses, schedules, and a simple public ledger of holdings/allocations. - ship: the first cohort through the pipeline & into market. - spin up: referral intake, office-hours calendar, and contributor bounties. - onboard: 64 council members with set allocations via partner invites - iterate: improve coordination, then layer in the NAV dashboard; automation comes after we’re producing. 13) a note to early traders if you came-in via bots with no slippage warnings, the launch mechanics were not for you. SKY is built for years, not wicks. as supply unlocks slowly & liquidity thickens, price discovery will become more forgiving. right now, the design preference is alignment over churn. if you believe in what were doing, i encourage you to build a position over time & hold. this will not be an easy token to extract from, certainly not with any real size 14) to my friends & the broader community i know some of you were disappointed not to see your names in the first 30. please know this wasn’t about popularity or exclusion—it was about speed, alignment & making sure each critical piece of the pipeline had coverage so we could launch. we had to make hard calls under pressure & i simply couldn’t include everyone i care about. that stings for me too. the plan from day one has been to expand from 30 → 64 → 100, and i want the people who have supported me & believed in this vision to be part of that growth. this isn’t a closed club. the best way in is the same for everyone: contribute, refer, mentor, build. incentives are designed to reward that directly. if you want a bigger role, there will be one—i promise. i'm sorry. ily. i have to think about coordination & that's already extremely hard at 30 deep. i am not here to heard cats, i am here to build projects. 15) closing we’re building for three+ years, not three days. control supply, reward real work, publish everything & compound outcomes into NAV we can defend. if you want in, help us build—there’s a clear path to earn a real stake & we would love to have you. thank you for your patience & trust. let's get back to work. https://farcaster.xyz/skycastle/0xc4e67175

derek on Farcaster

Sure. Two things up front: First, usual disclaimer: I speak for me. Second: it's the internet, so it's important to remember that the "amount of negativity" is always lower than it seems. This is true not just for Skycastle, but any project doing something of substance. It's the Yelp rule: the people who are the first to speak are a vocal minority, which leans negative/cynical/critical, because they think it gains them something (it often does). There are a LOT (aka the majority) of people rooting for $SKY, and a lot of people who are taking the wait-and-see approach. As to your original question for what's underlying the criticisms? Three camps, by my estimation. The first two are understandable and I empathize. 1. Valid, thoughtful critiques. I think of @mjc716's questioning and doubts around the NAV model. Or @jacy (and others!) disappointment in the diversity of partners. These are very valid criticisms and should (and will!) be addressed. While I wouldn't want to speak for them, I'd also say that these folks are rightfully disappointed or skeptical rather than angry that Skycastle exists. 2. The amount of people directly involved with $SKY inevitably leads to in-group vs. out-group dynamics. Had it been just @itsbasil and @garrett, everyone would root for it. Had it been a day-one DEGEN-like airdrop to the entire network, everyone would root for it. But ANYTHING (30, 120, 500 people, etc.) in between leads to folks feeling very human emotions (jealousy, loneliness, exclusion, etc.) and then taking it out publicly. You see this even with larger airdrops that have some exclusionary principle. I've felt this. It's natural and human: "Why wasn't I invited?" "I can help too!" etc. It's real, and I totally get it. The reality is that the incubator model is impractical without a team of people helping the projects behind the scenes. And those folks have to be (and should be!) incentivized. Are there other ways for Farcaster to eat? Of course, and those aren't off the table. So for those who are feeling the very real emotions above, I'd encourage you to feel it, then fight through it! I won't reveal too much, but I plan on using a small amount of my personal $SKY allocation to reward those who support my work. Others in Skycastle may do the same. You can't judge a project on day one, or even year one. But the attention economy rewards those that do. 3. People who are extracting attention by claiming that Skycastle is extractive. It's unhealthy outgroup-ism. They're cabals of one who are the Farcaster-equivalent of the National Enquirer or TMZ, and it works. They'll continue to get likes and build "community" around claims of Bat-Boys living in caves. I find it sadly entertaining but I also find it difficult to have sympathy, as they're more extractive than what they claim Skycastle to be. https://farcaster.xyz/chasesommer/0x8c4b65a0

Farcaster

About 29 Seconds of Farcaster

29 Seconds of Farcaster is a new weekly newsletter by @bradq in collaboration with the GM Farcaster Network. It highlights top stories on Farcaster that you might have missed.
The newsletter is available as a collectible. All rewards from mint fees are sent to an address that is split between creators on the GM Farcaster Network. Thank you for supporting creators.