Farcaster co-founder joins stablecoin startup Tempo

Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, the co-founders of Farcaster, announced that they will join the stablecoin startup Tempo after stepping down from their regular operational roles at this decentralized social media protocol earlier this year.

Romero shared on X that stablecoin is a “generational opportunity” and he will collaborate with Tempo co-founder Matt Huang to promote the adoption of stablecoins by the public. Meanwhile, Srinivasan stated that his goal at Tempo is to build a global payment network that is “fast, low-cost, and transparent.”

This move comes just a few weeks after the Farcaster protocol and related products were acquired by the decentralized social infrastructure company Neynar. Merkle Manufactory — the entity behind Farcaster — also plans to return approximately $180 million raised from investment funds and hand over the protocol to a new leadership team. The remaining members of the Merkle team are also expected to join Tempo.

Tempo, incubated by Stripe and Paradigm, is positioning itself as a blockchain focused on stablecoin payments and cross-border transfers. The company raised $500 million last year with a valuation of around $5 billion, launched its Layer 1 testnet in December, and announced partnerships with organizations such as Mastercard, UBS, and Kalshi for design, while Klarna is expected to issue stablecoins on this network.