# Faircaster token launch *Unpacking the $fair token launch and presale controversy* By [Research by matthewb](https://paragraph.com/@matthewb) · 2025-07-22 farcaster, clanker, faircaster, $fair --- **This article was originally published on June 27th, 2025. Since then, the percentage of presale tokens staked has changed significantly. I have updated those figures, added additional context on how Faircaster works, and added a section which analyzes the net cash flow of all presale participants.** _If you need a refresher course before we get clanking, take a look at my Clanker V3.1 deep dive_ [_here_](https://paragraph.com/@matthewb/clanker-pt1)_._ ### Launch overview and parameters The Faircaster token (ticker: [$fair](https://basescan.org/token/0x7D928816CC9c462DD7adef911De41535E444CB07)) was launched on Base by [@luc](https://farcaster.xyz/luc) on June 26th at 5:48pm EDT. Luc described [Faircaster](https://farcaster.xyz/faircaster) as "an experiment in agent-led capital" that uses its treasury to invest based on social signals on Farcaster. By tracking what top builders ship, fund, and support, the goal for the agent is to provide one-click exposure to the best builders in the Farcaster ecosystem. The token itself was described as a "governance token" where holders are the board and can make decisions to change the rules, shut down the agent, etc. No further details beyond "me + friends" were provided with regards to the team behind the project. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/6cf27265041ea9b0ddee10cc0af8f01a.png) [https://farcaster.xyz/luc/0x776781bc](https://farcaster.xyz/luc/0x776781bc) A few days later, Luc provided [further details](https://farcaster.xyz/luc/0x09125bd7) about how Faircaster works under the hood. In summary, Faircaster is a team of specialized agents which are all coordinated by an orchestrator agent. The main tactic used to identify opportunities is tracking casts from users with the "highest network centrality" based on [OpenRank](https://farcaster.xyz/openrank) scores. These signals are used to inform Faircaster's investment strategy by identifying promising new projects as well as important developments for existing projects. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/e92611619fd21332afb95721530de718.png) [https://farcaster.xyz/luc/0x09125bd7](https://farcaster.xyz/luc/0x09125bd7) As noted by Clanker contributor [@m00npapi.eth](https://farcaster.xyz/m00npapi.eth), the deployer configured the parameters of the launch on [clanker.world](https://www.clanker.world/) and saved them with a phrase which then triggered the launch: * **Total Supply:** Total supply of [$fair](https://basescan.org/token/0x7D928816CC9c462DD7adef911De41535E444CB07) is 100B, further supply cannot be minted. * **Creator Vault:** Token creators can use the vault feature to lock up a percentage of the token supply (up to 30%) for a predefined amount of time (min. 30 days). For this launch, 30% of the total supply (30B) was locked and sent to `ClankerVault` at [0x42A95190B4088C88Dd904d930c79deC1158bF09D](https://basescan.org/address/0x42a95190b4088c88dd904d930c79dec1158bf09d). These tokens will unlock 30 days after launch on July 27, 2025. * **Creator Buy ("dev buy"):** Token creators can use the dev buy feature to purchase tokens with their own capital upon launch up to 5 ETH. For this launch, the maximum of 5 ETH was used to acquire ~29.2B [$fair](https://basescan.org/token/0x7D928816CC9c462DD7adef911De41535E444CB07) which is 29.2% of the 100B total supply or 41.7% of the 70B circulating supply. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/98a3c7d21365c33e27adabc3b8ae05b2.png) [https://basescan.org/tx/0x6bc05e8ea8e247a808e3603677a506a49657e4678a80b29bf8ee213f453c30e6](https://basescan.org/tx/0x6bc05e8ea8e247a808e3603677a506a49657e4678a80b29bf8ee213f453c30e6) ### Presale controversy Following the launch, Farcaster users like [@sekoweed.eth](https://farcaster.xyz/sekoweed.eth/0x02b436c1) and [@bitfloorsghost.eth](https://farcaster.xyz/bitfloorsghost.eth/0x074be03d) pointed out that many well-known accounts were allegedly given private presale allocations of [$fair](https://basescan.org/token/0x7D928816CC9c462DD7adef911De41535E444CB07) later worth up to $70k+ USD. For many, this seemed counterintuitive because Clanker is widely seen as a way to launch fairly in public and bootstrap capital through trading fees. However, the necessity of raising capital becomes clear when you consider the nature of the project which is essentially [agentic capital allocation](https://farcaster.xyz/luc/0x09125bd7). Whether that raise should have happened in public vs. private is the main question at hand, not whether raising capital was necessary. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/07564fc0fd0eae2eebe682d66b6c146e.png) [https://farcaster.xyz/bitfloorsghost.eth/0x074be03d](https://farcaster.xyz/bitfloorsghost.eth/0x074be03d) Although no public details have been shared, it appears that presale participants were approached to send ETH to [0xd20CdCcfD6f2Fd0ce8Aa429fc1097D37aB29AA6B](https://basescan.org/address/0xd20cdccfd6f2fd0ce8aa429fc1097d37ab29aa6b) between May 20 2025 and June 26 2025 in exchange for [$fair](https://basescan.org/token/0x7D928816CC9c462DD7adef911De41535E444CB07) presale allocation. There is a clear pattern visible with several 0.25, 0.5, and 1 ETH payments made by both anon and public wallets tied to Farcaster profiles. Some wallets donated more than once, like [@waheed](https://farcaster.xyz/waheed) who contributed 5 times for a total of 3.25 ETH worth $8416.58 USD at the time that funds were sent. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/64a692a89a392333dc6f4d2de8b6cb97.png) [https://basescan.org/address/0xd20cdccfd6f2fd0ce8aa429fc1097d37ab29aa6b](https://basescan.org/address/0xd20cdccfd6f2fd0ce8aa429fc1097d37ab29aa6b) Three multisigs also participated: [0x4aB...54280](https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0x4abc57b4e11fb2ec66015341020b987d36554280), [0xE93...27B1a](https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0xe93fa32c8660980050cafd35120a7721d0c27b1a), and [0x7AF...A4cd7](https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0x7af410a3933cf30b117fd06f15babe859f6a4cd7). They contributed 2 ETH ($4834.88 USD), 2 ETH ($4834.88 USD), and 6.75 ETH ($16,318.13 USD) respectively. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/c9630ef0f50d5ef8e8c96ac8bc52f779.png) [https://basescan.org/address/0xd20cdccfd6f2fd0ce8aa429fc1097d37ab29aa6b#internaltx](https://basescan.org/address/0xd20cdccfd6f2fd0ce8aa429fc1097d37ab29aa6b#internaltx) In total, **23 ETH** was raised worth **$56,915.47 USD** at the time that funds were sent. During the launch ([tx](https://basescan.org/tx/0x6bc05e8ea8e247a808e3603677a506a49657e4678a80b29bf8ee213f453c30e6)), [0xb266343E3484cfE09A68372f295b915b60769289](https://basescan.org/address/0xb266343E3484cfE09A68372f295b915b60769289) received ~29.2B [$fair](https://basescan.org/token/0x7D928816CC9c462DD7adef911De41535E444CB07) tokens from the 5 ETH dev buy and proceeded to distribute the tokens to the addresses that contributed to the presale. You can see the corresponding allocation for 0.25, 0.5, and 1 ETH tiers which received 310.8M, 621.6M, and 1.24B tokens respectively. You can also see the three multisigs which received received 2.48B ([0x4aB...54280](https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0x4abc57b4e11fb2ec66015341020b987d36554280)), 2.48B ([0xE93...27B1a](https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0xe93fa32c8660980050cafd35120a7721d0c27b1a)), and 8.39B ([0x7AF...A4cd7](https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0x7af410a3933cf30b117fd06f15babe859f6a4cd7)) tokens. None of the ~29.2B tokens distributed were locked or vested, so they were freely tradeable once received. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/f4b7d274882e46c3eeb39244ab95c782.png) [https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0xb266343E3484cfE09A68372f295b915b60769289](https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0xb266343E3484cfE09A68372f295b915b60769289) Tokens launched via Clanker accumulate fees from the locked Uniswap V3 1% LP position created upon launch. Since [$fair](https://basescan.org/token/0x7D928816CC9c462DD7adef911De41535E444CB07) was launched via the [clanker.world](http://clanker.world) frontend, the fee split between the token creator and Clanker is 80% / 20% respectively. At the time of writing, [0xb26...69289](https://basescan.org/address/0xb266343E3484cfE09A68372f295b915b60769289) has so far claimed ~11.14 WETH ($33.5k USD) and ~732.73M $fair ($23.8k USD). There are six transactions in total which call the `claimRewards` function: [1](https://basescan.org/tx/0x191a519d0cfbcf20a16445692a0c70be06137808afd522d798288f65fcccdad7), [2](https://basescan.org/tx/0xda842264b936899ea0e068ad34fae6158345f586d7001e54bbad95d840003ed8), [3](https://basescan.org/tx/0x25bbe01343be576f5cf0726b98053bc04410ca0bd0496593443809a0739b4ff1), [4](https://basescan.org/tx/0xb16f9a213e94cb51744978cc9340ac95d0c73f49b3c84d836806fb311e06b7fe), [5](https://basescan.org/tx/0x4811ea67c956fb543d1ec6f9d5ab8e81b956338c764593ab327eecad8cf0cbae), and [6](https://basescan.org/tx/0xb6e4efdf61c7a7c2f13bf4b3cac7d7c853a7c7973da1d29cf2a024be7f7329e2). Please note that [@luc](https://farcaster.xyz/luc)'s [presale allocation](https://basescan.org/tx/0xd4ed552a93fa6abe80570deae35cc39a4cab836102446aad43aa372db4053331) of 463.01M tokens was the only non-multisig allocation which differed from the standard amounts of 310.8M, 621.6M, and 1.24B tokens (or multiples thereof). This surplus of 152,201,614.74 $fair closely matches the first Clanker rewards claim of 152,201,611.46 $fair. As a result, [0xb26...69289](https://basescan.org/address/0xb266343E3484cfE09A68372f295b915b60769289) currently holds ~580.53M $fair rather than the total amount claimed of ~732.73M $fair. ### Token lockups [@luc](https://farcaster.xyz/luc) posted an [update](https://farcaster.xyz/luc/0xd9fa35f6) at 5:13pm EDT on June 27 2025 stating that all early investors locked their allocation for 6 months. It is unclear whether this step was taken in response to criticism or whether this was the intended course of action all along. This post also clarified why capital was raised in the presale, stating that "first buyers funded the agent for everyone." ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a8c71df35e85d719b35073553b375950.png) [https://farcaster.xyz/luc/0xd9fa35f6](https://farcaster.xyz/luc/0xd9fa35f6) According to [@itsbasil](https://farcaster.xyz/itsbasil/0x6961764c), these lockups were done via [Hedgey Finance](https://hedgey.finance/) which is a tool for token vesting, investor lockups, grants, etc. At the time of writing, ~26.28B [$fair](https://basescan.org/token/0x7D928816CC9c462DD7adef911De41535E444CB07) tokens have been locked via Hedgey. Out of the ~29.2B presale tokens, this leaves ~2.9B unlocked at the time of writing. In other words, **89.94%** of the ~29.2B presale tokens are locked. If you include the 152.2M extra tokens sent to [@luc](https://farcaster.xyz/luc) in the presale total, **89.48%** of the ~29.3B presale tokens are locked. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/da6be615a926f62736cc364db744c343.png) [https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0x73cd8626b3cd47b009e68380720cfe6679a3ec3d](https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0x73cd8626b3cd47b009e68380720cfe6679a3ec3d) These locks expire on December 27, 2025 at 7am EST. You can verify this by calling the `planEnd` read function on the [VotingTokenLockupPlans (VTLP)](https://basescan.org/token/0x73cd8626b3cd47b009e68380720cfe6679a3ec3d#readContract) contract and entering the token ID of the ERC-721 minted at the time of lockup. This will return a Unix timestamp which you can then convert to your local timezone. So far, 24 tokens have been minted beginning with ID 11 through to ID 34. Previous lockup tokens minted relate to other tokens which are likely tests or unrelated. ### Post-launch trading analysis I have divided the presale participants into two groups based on what % of their presale tokens are locked: **Group A (≥95%)** and **Group B (≤85%)**. * **Wallet** shows the address used by presale participants to lock their tokens, which in some cases may differ from the wallet used to send ETH to [0xd20...9AA6B](https://basescan.org/address/0xd20cdccfd6f2fd0ce8aa429fc1097d37ab29aa6b) and receive presale tokens. * **Presale buy** shows the total amount of ETH sent to [0xd20...9AA6B](https://basescan.org/address/0xd20cdccfd6f2fd0ce8aa429fc1097d37ab29aa6b) in exchange for presale allocation. USD value is calculated at the time the payment was made. * **Presale allocation** shows the total amount of tokens received in exchange. In some cases tokens were received at another address and then transferred. * **Tokens locked** and **%** shows the total amount of tokens locked via [Hedgey](https://hedgey.finance/). * **Net tokens bought/sold** shows the amount of tokens bought or sold by presale participants. If the number is positive, they bought more tokens than they sold. If the number is negative, they sold more tokens than they bought. * **Net cash flow** shows the net profit from token sales minus the amount contributed to the presale. In other words, including the presale buy, did the participant lose or make money? If $fair was traded for assets other than ETH, only the WETH value of the trade was used and subsequent gains or losses were not accounted for in this calculation. **Group A: ≥95% presale allocation locked** ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/a55ea5c345ea737138bbfd229bce27b1.png) Net cash flows for Group A (≥95% presale allocation locked) **Group B: ≤85% presale allocation locked** ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/2bd2b1781e295795e71d032a3dfffd8f.png) Net cash flows for Group B (≤85% presale allocation locked) A few additional notes on the above: * Only three presale participants have a positive net cash flow: [@azflin](https://farcaster.xyz/azflin), [@waheed](https://farcaster.xyz/waheed), and [0xbCE...a1311](https://basescan.org/token/0x7d928816cc9c462dd7adef911de41535e444cb07?a=0xbce055a67e1e8839efc36aea8fee7881f85a1311). * [@luc](https://farcaster.xyz/luc) did not send ETH to [0xd20...9AA6B](https://basescan.org/address/0xd20cdccfd6f2fd0ce8aa429fc1097d37ab29aa6b) so it is impossible to determine his cost basis (if any). * Although [@sidshekhar](https://farcaster.xyz/sidshekhar) only locked 67.26% of his tokens, it is worth noting that he instead decided to [distribute them via Noice tipping](https://farcaster.xyz/sidshekhar/0xc6fc1630). * Presale participants may have bought or sold tokens from side wallets which are not accounted for in the above analysis of public wallets. * The data above is accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of publishing but may become inaccurate over time as participants lock/unlock or buy/sell tokens. Please do your own research and form your own conclusions. ### Takeaways Launching tokens is never easy, but here are a few takeaways from the events surrounding [$fair](https://basescan.org/token/0x7D928816CC9c462DD7adef911De41535E444CB07): * **There are valid reasons to conduct a presale or private round for your project.** An agent that invests needs capital to invest, a point well articulated by [@woj](https://farcaster.xyz/woj/0x3d949d82). And as mentioned by [@six](https://farcaster.xyz/six/0xbb73d9f6), having control over your cap table is also valuable. * **However, you should disclose this arrangement whenever possible.** Otherwise, you risk not being on the same page with the broader community that may want to support your project. * **If you're proud of your early partners they should be a selling point, not a secret.** If you're reticent to reveal how you structured the raise, that likely points to flaws that you should address. * **Distribution is valuable, but so is transparency.** It is much easier to maintain trust than to rebuild it following a PR fumble. Comms deserves equal prioritization alongside cap tables. ### Conclusion I have done my best to summarize the events surrounding the launch of [Faircaster](https://farcaster.xyz/faircaster) and the [$fair](https://basescan.org/token/0x7D928816CC9c462DD7adef911De41535E444CB07) token, but there may be missing details or context from the above analysis. Please do your own research and form your own conclusions. I wish [@luc](https://farcaster.xyz/luc) and everyone else involved with [Faircaster](https://farcaster.xyz/faircaster) the very best going forward. Despite some stumbles with the launch, I do not believe that they had any bad intentions and will be following the project closely. --- *Originally published on [Research by matthewb](https://paragraph.com/@matthewb/faircaster)*