Farcaster founders join stablecoin startup Tempo after Neynar acquires social protocol

Finance

Share

Share this article

Copy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmail

Farcaster founders join stablecoin startup Tempo after Neynar acquires social protocol

Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan have both exited crypto social media to focus on global payments via stablecoins.

By Helene Braun, AI Boost|Edited by Stephen Alpher

Feb 9, 2026, 7:34 p.m.

Make us preferred on Google

What to know:

• Farcaster co-founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan are joining stablecoin startup Tempo, marking a shift from crypto social media to blockchain-based payments.
• Their move comes after infrastructure provider Neynar acquired Farcaster and Romero, Srinivasan, and much of the Merkle team stepped away from the project.
• Tempo, incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, aims to build a fast, inexpensive and transparent stablecoin-powered network for international payments as an alternative to traditional cross-border systems.

Farcaster co-founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan said Monday they are joining stablecoin-focused startup Tempo, signaling a pivot away from crypto-native social media and toward blockchain-based payments.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Sign me up

By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy.

The move follows last month’s acquisition of Farcaster by Neynar, a long-time infrastructure provider for the protocol that offers APIs and tools for developers building on the network.

Farcaster was once pitched as crypto’s answer to Twitter, a protocol-based alternative where users controlled their identities and data. After Neynar’s acquisition, Romero, Srinivasan and several members of their team at Merkle, the company behind Farcaster, stepped away from the project.

In a post on X, Romero said he’s now focused on building a “fast, inexpensive and transparent” global payments network at Tempo.

Launched quietly last year, Tempo has quickly drawn attention as one of the most well-capitalized new ventures in the stablecoin space. It was incubated by payments giant Stripe and crypto venture firm Paradigm, both of which have deep experience in building and scaling financial infrastructure. Tempo’s goal is to power international payments using stablecoins, offering an alternative to traditional cross-border systems that remain costly, slow and opaque.

Farcaster

AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.