Just a year ago most people wrote off Farcaster as “another beautifully designed but dead web3 project.” In 2023–2024 daily active users barely crossed 50k, posting a single cast could cost $5–$20 in storage fees, and the main client Warpcast looked like Twitter from 2012. Fast-forward to December 2025: Warpcast now sees 550k+ unique wallets every day, Frames generate hundreds of thousands of interactions, and top channels earn tens of thousands of dollars a month from direct subscriptions. So what changed? Why did 2025 become the year of Farcaster?

1. Frames — the death of boring posts Frames launched in January 2024 as interactive mini-apps embedded directly in the feed. In less than 24 months they evolved from a “cute feature” into the primary way people consume content. Now in your feed you don’t just read text — you:

• play chess (/chess)

• mint NFTs with one click

• place bets in crypto fantasy leagues (Fantasy Top)

• claim bounties and get paid instantly to your wallet

• buy memecoins without leaving the app

Dune Analytics: $187 million in transactions flowed through Frames in November 2025 alone — more than many DeFi protocols.

1. Posting costs dropped 100x+ In 2023 one cast could cost $5–$20 because everything was stored on mainnet Ethereum. In 2025 almost all storage moved to Optimism + new Hub optimizations. Result: a text + image cast now costs less than $0.01, a 30-second video costs $0.10–$0.30. Posting is cheaper than sending a message in some Telegram bots.

2. Channels 2.0 + direct subscriptions Summer 2025 brought paid channel subscriptions built directly into the protocol. Creators keep 100 % of revenue (minus gas) — no 30 % Apple/Google cut. Top channels right now:

• /degen — $49/mo, 12,000+ paying subscribers

• /founders — $99/mo, ~4,500 subscribers

• /zora — free, but still pulls $150–200k/mo from sponsored Frames

Top-20 channels combined earn more than $2 million a month just from subscriptions.

1. Warpcast Mini and the mobile onboarding explosion In September 2025 Warpcast released “Mini” — a 12 MB version that loads in 3 seconds even on 3G in India. 2.7 million installs in the first three months. That triggered the second massive wave of users from Asia and Latin America.

2. Power Badge and “social mining” The Power Badge NFT stopped being just a status symbol and became real social capital. Secondary rental markets appeared in 2025 — you can now lease a Power Badge for $10–20/month and post without storage limits. The “expensive entry” problem is solved for newcomers.

3. Culture and 2025 meme wars Farcaster turned into the main battlefield for 2025 memes. DEGEN, PEPE reborn, BONK 2.0, MOODENG — almost every major memecoin of this cycle launched first through Frames and the /degen channel. Memes spread 5–10× faster here than on X/Twitter because anyone can instantly mint, trade, or bet inside the feed.

4. Nobody can globally ban you While X was banning people for the word “cis” and Telegram channels disappeared on government requests, global bans simply don’t exist on Farcaster. Even if Warpcast bans you, just switch to Supercast, Casty, Merkle, or any of the 50+ other clients. In 2025 that became a killer argument for politicians, journalists, and activists in censored countries.

Conclusion Farcaster in 2025 is no longer “Twitter on blockchain.” It’s a separate ecosystem with its own economy, culture, and rules. It’s not trying to replace Twitter for a billion people. It has already replaced it for the 5–10 million who care about ownership, direct monetization, and the absence of a central overlord. And this looks like only the beginning.

P.S. If you still think “web3 social will never take off,” just open Warpcast and play one game of chess in the feed or mint a meme NFT in one second

Charts (ready to paste into Mirror/Medium/Paragraph)

1. Farcaster DAU growth in 2025

   

1. Volume through Frames (million USD)

   

1. Daily casts (thousands)