This post is taking part in the Farcaster 2026 writing contest.

Farcaster has an identity crisis, and it's time to choose our path. Will we become a treacherous, onchain Wall Street, or a thriving, borderless Main Street? The answer depends on the culture and systems we decide to build.

Farcaster As Wall Street

We could recreate Wall Street - a place with winners and losers. Where some get rich, while others are rugged. Where the hustle is nonstop and we’re too afraid to look away. It’s chaotic, stressful and dog-eat-dog.

In many ways, Farcaster encourages the worst of TradFi with rampant extraction and speculation emboldened by the lack of regulation.

Extraction

On Farcaster, attention is value. This creates systems abuse and friction between large and small accounts as users chase social scores and tipping tokens.

Large accounts get great engagement but are hesitant to acknowledge smaller and unknown accounts to avoid low-effort and spammy tactics. However, there are often gems and earnest engagement among the spam.

Small accounts understand the importance of quality engagement to boost social scores - so they flock to OG casters for attention. Unfortunately, even when small accounts cast good content, the algorithm punishes them when their casts are ignored.

Some accounts contribute just enough to participate in giveaways and airdrops. Most of their casts are “recast and tag 3 friends,” “I just claimed my airdrop,” and daily allowance frames.

Bots also fuel the degeneracy. Developers who could have added value, instead extract allowances. Low-effort bot replies put everyone on guard, making it harder for real accounts to break through the noise.

Finally, there are those seeking score boosts and rewards for casting frequently. This causes them to share low-effort content like frames, rinse and reuse content through scheduled casts, or cast their every thought contributing to attention extraction without much value added.

Speculation

Farcaster turned users into tokens and embraced a culture of betting on who’ll “win.” This creates unhealthy pressure to constantly show up and contribute.

It’s alarming when users apologize for being offline because it means their fan tokens are stagnant or their daily allowance is lost. It’s equally distressing that exhausting allowances feels like another job with horrible pay.

No one owes an apology for taking care of irl business and touching grass. Opening the purple app is a chance to contribute, not a fomo-fueled frenzy to find the right rocketship.

Those speculating on tokens, instead of focusing on the person or project behind the token, lose sight of the true value of their investment. It’s apparent from the harsh attacks and criticisms of hard-working people because their tokens failed to meet expectations.

Farcaster builders and creators need support in trying new things, making mistakes and gaining the experience that supports the entire ecosystem. Investors benefit the most by investing in people they believe in. By doing so, value is realized, even if the token doesn’t reflect it.

TradFi is powered by extraction and speculation. With DeFi, we can choose differently.

Farcaster As Main Street

We could instead recreate Main Street - a place where winning is the default. Where there are more collaborators than competitors. Where we go to learn new things, meet friends and have a good time. Value is exchanged on Main Street, and not only monetary value. We know who we do business with and wish them well. There’s room for everyone to contribute and succeed. And as Main Street expands, it brings opportunity for everyone.

Sustainable Value

However, Main Street isn’t built in a day. It’s slow money, created with thoughtful investments of time and resources. Value is generated through genuine, trusting relationships; trial and error to find product market fit; and community-led systems that reduce extractive behavior. To build Main Street, we must decide we really want it.

The idea of fast money is tempting. Stories of trading to life-changing riches are rampant. We want life-sustaining income to grow into generational wealth, and to gain it, a competitive default kicks in.

Leveraging exclusive networks, shilling to boost bags, rug pulls, overpromising and overdelivering; it’s becoming endemic as OGs and newbies alike scheme and extract. People question whether we’re truly here for the tech.

There’s a quote that says: to go fast, go alone, but to go far, go together.

It’s fitting as Farcaster - and the wider crypto industry - endures growing pains and seeks an identity that feels true. We can focus on ourselves, competing with one another to buy earlier and sell higher, or we can collaborate to build an ecosystem that reflects the best of our knowledge and abilities.

By growing general wealth, not from extracting, but as a system outcome, we create systemic wealth. A Main Street that grows beyond anything imaginable.

Collaborative Communities

Farcaster as Main Street is the home to the most creative, curious, entrepreneurial, and strategy-minded people in crypto. Though a bit lawless and abnormal, we’re exploring a frontier brimming with opportunity. It’s the next great experiment.

On Main Street, profile pages are homes - the url extensions of irl. They’re a snapshot of our lives - thoughts, images, and projects, where we display our networks and collections. Anyone can stop by to learn more about us and see what we’re up to. With the social graph, actions are viewable across platforms and reliable reputations develop over time.

Each user is a neighbor; someone navigating all the complexities of life and finding their place in an onchain world. Neighbors show up in feed - the url equivalent to living on the same street - and talk to each other daily. Others connect in passing at favorite places or through mutual friends.

The app has a unique role as an incubator, where communities develop and test ideas and get instant feedback. Ideas grow into projects and channels. These become the vendors and storefronts of Farcaster’s Main Street.

Like irl stores, Farcaster channels are as unique as their users, having their own rules, products and norms. Some channels are busy, bustling places and some are cozy corners where a few gather regularly. There is something for everyone.

Attention and contribution are alchemized into airdrops, rewards and alpha giving early supporters an appreciating benefit. It’s easy to imagine these benefits as the carrot, but they can be a stick if we aren’t careful.

Welcome to Main Street

The dangling carrot of participation rewards turns into a stick when the goal becomes extracting value instead of giving it.

While the algorithm punishes irregular casters, the daily grind to keep up with different tipping tokens, project launches and airdrops is wearing. Especially when the ROI is uncertain and fleeting.

Main Street doesn’t have roads paved with gold and people shouldn’t come to Farcaster hoping to get rich. They should come to Farcaster if they want to learn and create in an emerging market and help develop a new economy that puts users first.

Giving to the system, without expecting an individual return seems counterintuitive. However, this is a chance to redefine how an economy works.

We can think selfishly, creating and reinforcing pyramid structures where there are always fewer and fewer in higher and higher positions of influence and prosperity, while everyone else clamors to rise higher and reach those on top.

Or we can think altruistically to create an environment of collaboration to win together. It’s opportune to be where extraordinary things are happening and options to contribute are expansive. To participate, I recommend three first steps.

Step 1: Throw Out the Playbook

Newbies joining Farcaster must have realistic expectations.

They should know the guaranteed way to have a bad time on Farcaster is to join with the expectation that they will get status, get rich, or be patronized quickly.

On an app where it seems everyone is having their day, one might expect the same results. But success is harder than it looks and the rules change so often that an advantage or plan can disintegrate with one cast. Projects crater, tokens crash, people disappear.

Chasing money on Main Street may seem lucrative, but the blockchain makes it easy to track these actions, adjust the rules and penalize those who are solely extracting.

New users must throw out the old playbook. It’s moldy. Instead, they should embrace the novelty of being a clueless foreigner in a new world.

Step 2: Learn The Neighborhood

Newbies have much to learn, see and do. They should be encouraged to check out a lot of profiles and channels, get to know their neighbors, and make frens.

It’s easy to feel lost, but Farcarcaster is home to friendly people. Asking questions, replying to neighbors, and sharing interesting content builds a homefront brick by brick.

With that said, everyone should understand that even if someone shares the wisdom of a sensei, no one is required to reply. Many newbies feel they’re shouting into the void. They must keep creating and sharing until they find their people and their channels. Then, Farcaster will feel like home.

Step 3: Meet and Support Neighbors

When neighbors are building, the community helps. When art is shared, frens buy. No to get an airdrop or flip the art, but to benefit neighbors and frens. Newbies must participate in community activities and share their thoughts about the art, projects and developments they find. This creates helpful and thought-provoking content that benefits everyone and builds rapport. As more people engage with the content, more relationships are built.

Irl, a person wouldn’t walk into a restaurant, join a table with strangers and be welcomed into the conversation. Few people would be so bold.

Yet, this is exactly how the amazing Farcaster community works. One can add value to anyone’s conversation or project. That feedback helps the creative process and creates opportunities to continue providing value.

The key to Main Street is realizing the most lasting wealth comes from supporting our neighbors. As we look out for each other, we build systems that take care of us all.

We can imagine the brilliance of this future, but the past is clear. Wall Street is not the blueprint for what we want on Farcaster. Instead, Main Street offers a better beacon. If anyone can do it, we can.