Welcome Drinks: First Irish Pub in Singapore

The evening of September 16th was a memorable prelude to the much-anticipated FarCon Asia. Held at a chic, informal venue - Molly Malone's Irish Pub. The Welcome Drinks set the perfect tone for the innovative discussions that would follow. This event - FarCon Asia is a first of its kind outside the US, was not only a continuation of the success seen in Los Angeles, but also a vibrant introduction of the Farcaster ecosystem to the Asian community.

The co-hosts - Takocast, Jam along with Blockbeats greeted the guests with lovely plushies. Tables in the pub were laden with an array of beverages, where guests were invited to mingle and fuel up for the evening!

It's great catching up with old friends and URL connections.

FarCon Asia Started with a Powerful Kickoff

Stepping into the Arts House in Singapore on September 17 was like walking into a vibrant future where digital and real-world connectivity blend seamlessly. It was first time FarCon Asia is held, marking Farcaster's first major event outside the United States.

The energy was palpable, fueled by the anticipation of a community meeting face-to-face, many for the first time, after fostering relationships URL to IRL (In Real Life). Shoutout to the Farcard/Mintclub team who printed FarCon Asia NFC networking cards for all attendees with a farcarster identity ("FID"), and used the IceBreaker's platform to connect.

The event commenced with an enthusiastic crowd, ready to dive into the intricacies of the Farcaster ecosystem. The registration process was smooth, setting a positive tone right from the start. I caught attendees walking around wearing an tako (octopus) cap, getting sticker-tattoo and snapping photos with both new and old friends. It was a lot of fun!

The hosts put up TV monitors to showcase profile of builders, creators and projects. This was the IRL plan for those community members who could not make it to FarCon Asia - how thoughtful!

Refreshment was also available throughout, which kept the attendees' energy level high!

The co-host (Tako, Blockbeats and Jam) opened the conference with welcome speeches that set the intellectual tone for the day. Many people were awed to hear that the event is fully covered by the co-hosts without any external sponsorships, to maintain the experience where FarCon Asia remains cosy, chill and for the community to network with each others!

Engaging Fireside Chats

I had the pleasure of discussing hosting a fireside chat with Jesse Pollak, founder of Base, was enlightening. We discussed the foundational principles of Base and its role in bringing more people onchain, offering insights into how blockchain can enhance digital interactions in meaningful ways.

Jesse revealed that Base and himself has plans to go on a tour. They will head to India next, then Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines. It will be a three-week global tour to communicate with developers in different places and understand how Base can support them and help them achieve greater success!

Jesse also shared the areas he sees tremendous growth - in the payment and stablecoin sectors. The payment sector has established itself as a major application scenario, especially the stablecoin payment business driven by the US dollar stablecoin. He feels that there is an importance to put more non-USD denominated stablecoins on-chain, such as the Singapore dollar, the Euro and Nigerian Naira. There needs to be emphasis on the user experience, builders should not change everything people know about money, or make them use a whole new currency, instead help users get ten times better globally availability and access to financial services than what exist today. This will make the network and technology very valuable.

This was swiftly followed by a second fireside chat hosted by Ted with Dan Romero, co-founder of Farcaster. Dan delved into the core functionalities of Farcaster and its strategic roadmap. His passion for creating a platform that prioritizes user experience was clear. Dan spoke about the massive growth of Farcaster user base in 2024, with about 700,000 registered users, and all of them paid to onboard. Later during Q&A, I asked Dan if he would ever consider removing the USD 5 sign up fee. Dan responded that the fee does help to deter massive amount of bots from flooding the platform, so he would not remove it, but they could look to reduce the fee in future.

Dan shared that the team is focused on two things: first by increasing the number of daily active users in the protocol, which is mainly achieved through our ongoing Warpcast application-related initiatives; second is another set of initiatives around the protocol layer, which aims to enable developers to use the system development layer to build any application they want, gain access to the social graph, and reach the growing Farcaster protocol user base. Overall, the Farcaster team is working to make it easier for others to develop applications with social features, all based on cryptographic APIs and infrastructure.

Ted asked about the "Lego blocks" for developers, and mentioned Takocast, which is a client built on top of Farcaster. Dan responded with a clear framework having three levels: 1/ permissionless dataset and API services, 2/ easy content distribution, 3/ go beyond the permissionless use of the social graph and content distribution and then go further and build more functionality on the Farcaster data.

One major takeaway in Dan's fireside chat is what makes the users in Farcaster different from other platforms - Authenticity. While it is encouraged for project or company to have an account, he said that people still want to hear from the individuals behind. Dan shared how he would speak to the community through his personal account instead of warpcast, he stresses on the important "to be yourself" and let people know who you are. Perhaps this is how Dan successfully onboarded early users for Farcaster and continue to grew a fanbase.

The Asian Angle

Both Jesse and Dan were posted questions in relation to the Asian users or builders.

Jesse affirmed that there is no doubt that Asia is now a hot spot for on-chain innovation. He has seen many American developers leave the United States and come to Asia because there is a lot of innovation here. Jesse highlighted two points about Asian builders. First, they have accumulated alot of experience in building applications. However, the next generation of super apps is that they will be open, which means that they will share the same open data set, and many different people can build super apps, and they can use the same basic network, and then continue to improve and perfect it through competition. Second, there are many strong cultural leaders in Asia who are very aware of mainstream culture and are thinking about how to bridge these cultures to the on-chain world. He feels this kind of cultural insight is a very important.

On the other hand, Dan shared that those who build applications outside of the United States, they will have a better understanding of local market or regional needs. A good example is our translation function, which can serve markets such as China and Japan. So, I think the most important thing is to create some communities on the network that are not necessarily geographically centered, although there will be overlap and interaction between these communities, but ultimately this will have a huge impact on the overall development of Farcaster and service providers. He also shared his appreciation for the Asian team (Takocast, Jam and Blockbeats) for hosting the Farcaster Asia 2024, including being shocked by the cofounders who flew into Los Angeles just to share the progress with him.

Overall, the Asian community forms an integral part of the Farcaster and Base strategy going forward, which is culturally and technically different from those in the west.

Insightful Panel Discussions

After a refreshing lunch break, we were treated to a series of panel discussions that were nothing short of a deep dive into the future of decentralized social network and community-building.

Panel 1: Building Decentralized Social Networks featured powerhouse panelists including Jane Lippencott from A16Z Crypto, Nader from Eigenlabs, Suji from MaskNetwork, Tony from Tako, David Toh from Mirana Ventures, and Rapolas from Zee Prime Capital. The panelists debated the nuances of privacy, the scalability of decentralized networks, and the hurdles in adoption, setting a thoughtful tone for the day. They explored the challenges of ensuring these networks are accessible while maintaining privacy and security. The discussion emphasized the delicate balance between innovation and user protection.

After the first session, the guests poured in to network with the panelists. It was a rare opportunity to connect with superstar panelists that many in the audience were looking toward.

Panel 2: Building on Farcaster for Tomorrow shifted the focus towards the practical aspects of developing on the Farcaster platform. To from Farcards, Nine from Symmetry, Ramit from Farhouse, mentats.eth from Lum0x, Yuki from Checkin, and Liang from Degencast shared their pioneering work and expectations for future developments.

mentats.eth from Lum0x from Lum0x came with a wizard hat and magic wand!

Panel 3: Foray into Onchain Social was particularly intriguing, with insights from Pigi from Taiko, Sarah from BNB Chain, Yawn from StepN, Terence from Humanity Protocol, Sean Lee from Mantle Network, and Cheryl from Dragonfly discussed strategies that could leverage blockchain technology to revolutionize social interactions online.

Panel 4: Memes & NFT brought a creative twist to the discussions, with speakers like Andrei Grachev from DWF Labs, Giulio Xiloyannis from Pixelmon, Clement Chia from Imaginary Ones, Alice Chen from Story Protocol, Spicy from Yuga Labs, and Juliet from New Tribe delved into how digital art and memes are shaping online cultures and creating new economic paradigms.

Panel 5: Let's Jam Together was the perfect finale, focusing on the creator economy. Gregarious from Snickerdoodle, Jack from Blockbeats, content creators Gracie Hartie and 0XLuo, and myself from Jam. This discussion was focused on how decentralized platforms can empower creators by providing tools for better engagement and fairer monetization strategies. Before this panel, Snickledoodle released a 118-page research report on Farcaster. Gregarious told the crowd TL;DR skip to the last page's summary, and everyone laughed. On a serious note, the report is very comprehensive and lays out the state of matters for Farcaster, which can be accessed at https://snickerdoodle.com/reports/farcaster-2024. Interestingly, the largest user pool is in Asia:

IP and content protection was a topic, where panelists were divided. Jack from Blockbeats felt that materials are being copied frequently and there is no easy way to protect them. Gregarious disagreed, saying there is a need to protect the content, especially since audience knows how to authenticate the content. The future of social network protection is conducted by the followers, with less reliance on central authority.

Gracie, an OnlyFan content creator told her story of unhappiness with web2 social network platforms like instagram, where she had to deal with censorship and opaque rules of engagement. She has turned to telegram to continue her business where she engages with fans. When asked what will help her move to new platforms like Farcaster, she shared that it is new and like telegram, she is trying new platforms, but the user base and income potential must be lucrative enough for her to make a serious move.

In contrast, a popular content creator on Farcaster - 0xLuo, shared with the audience how he has made money posting stuff and earning from numerous early opportunities and airdrops on the platform. 0xLuo is well known creator for picking up projects on Farcaster, to provide an introductory analysis for his followers.

As the panels came to an end, it is a wrap for FarCon Asia 2024. The attendees took home good memories, useful knowledge and new friendships.

Closing Thoughts

As the panels concluded and the crowd began to disperse, the air was filled with a sense of accomplishment and anticipation. FarCon Asia had not only met expectations but exceeded them, fostering a community ready to take on the challenges and opportunities of decentralized social networks. The event was a catalyst for change, setting the stage for Asia to play a significant role in the global Farcaster community. The sense of community and shared purpose was stronger than ever!

The Friendship Goes Beyond FarCon Asia

In the days that followed, we bonded over local delicacies, while we got to know each other better. I organized dinners that involved Singapore's famous chili crabs, a feast that foreigners all heard of, before they even landed. The crabs were juicy and nothing shy of the goodness that we experienced at FarCon Asia.

The Singapore experience isn't complete without tasting the fruit of king - Durian! You either love it or hate it, but no one left without trying the fruit. This is the spirit of builders, We may not like it, we may get it wrong, but we keep trying.

Apart from good food, we had other fun activities such as morning run around the Singapore Marina Bay!

FarCon Asia 2024 was a milestone for the Farcaster community. The connections made, ideas shared, and visions crafted here are sure to echo through our efforts as we strive to build the next generation of social network! Farewell for now, until the next event brings us together!