When payments become programmable and friction-free • TWiF #15
Let’s open with a key quote from Jihad’s latest essay. Basically, this is why Splits decided to go really hard on the Farcaster ecosystem (leading to this newsletter, among other things):
While AI dominates headlines, equally transformative changes are occurring in financial infrastructure. Onchain payment rails and stablecoins are transforming organizations into borderless, permeable networks. Major financial institutions are engaged in a "stablecoin gold rush," seeking more efficient settlement options.
When payments become programmable and friction-free, business models transform fundamentally. Micro-transactions become viable, one example of which is "like to tip" on Farcaster this week. Revenue-sharing can become automatic. Cross-organizational collaboration becomes fluid.
That’s just a taste, read the whole thing.
Builder energy begets builder energy. “The onchain economy is a hotbed of new startups,” Jihad posted. “Farcaster mini apps are leading the way.” Fact-check: true!
Remember when TWiF had a specific section for mini apps? (We called them frames back then, in the olden days.) It would feel silly now, because mini apps are the whole game. If someone is shipping on Farcaster, it’s probably a mini app. There are a handful of nonetheless-cool exceptions... but they are exceptions.
Links
Time-sensitive 🔔 Coinbase is hosting a workshop on Monday, reviewing how mini apps will work in Coinbase Wallet’s upcoming Farcaster client.
As Jihad mentioned, Tip ‘n Earn allows you to send a micropayment every time you like a Farcaster post.
Matthew Chaim launched a new Farcaster-native radio show called Acid Test, to instant acclaim. Listen in the Acid Test mini app. The app was developed by Builders Garden, and the project comes with a clanker ($acid).
"Introducing Mini Apps search on mobile," so you can find the latest launch again after closing it. How it works:
Extended Mini App Metadata is now used for the new Mini Apps search feature on Warpcast mobile.
The more metadata you add, the better we'll be at providing good search results, especially "description", "primaryCategory" and "tags".
"We're considering ending support for v1 Frames in 3 months." RIP.
Meanwhile, geographic expansion from Warpcast: "You can use the wallet and earn rewards in Belarus, DRC, CAR, Libya, Myanmar, Russia, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Venezuela."
Clanker infra update: "With configurable starting market caps on WETH-paired tokens, API users may choose the starting market cap of each deployment (1 ETH market cap minimum) and clanker[.]world deployers may select from a few options upon token creation."
The Clanker team also introduced “casual clanks.” Proxy explained:
- reply: “get in here @ clanker”
- clanker pics up context from the convo, drops a coin
- clanker rewards are split between root cast author + reply
- 1 eth mc on launch
Bankr acquired Payflow. “Payflow makes onchain social payments easy and accessible and this aligns 100% with our vision of simplifying crypto and trading.”
Heads up devs: "we just dropped a new Farcaster mini app Next.js template using @base's minikit" ✅
A novel addition to the mini apps roster: "buy data eSIMs with crypto!"
surface onchain activity based on a user's social graph ✨
this unlocks the ability to create personalized experiences for mini apps, wallets, or onchain products out-the-box with the Zapper API
For the visually inclined: "simple gallery miniapp to see a grid ui of any user or channel image feed."
"Deep Space: a Mini App hackathon by Orbiter," in which devs compete for a lifetime hosting plan and other prizes.
Megapot is hiring.
"Introducing Noms — a fully onchain, composable art project for making and remixing little characters." Cute!
Gems is a new daily game, “inspired by Minesweeper, Mines, and @warpslot.”
Cameron Armstrong is winding down Seemore, and shared some heartfelt founder reflections.
Tortoise Player now has an accompanying clanker to support the project.
Handy dashboard of Farcaster user metrics — here’s a direct link.
New channel "for sharing startup news, announcements, product launches, and showcasing projects, products, or services."
"BattleCast is a prediction game where you pick coins, track their price performance, & compete to win prizes.”
"We're building DAVINCI, a voting protocol based on a L1 zkRollup and designed to solve the problems of both traditional and onchain voting."
Politiswap: "We’re tokenizing every elected official in the world, whether they like it or not."
Tunecaster adds notifications.
Neat: "you can always access your /fluidkey stealth addresses, even without our app" through an IPFS-based recovery interface.
That’s all for this roundup. Have a great weekend!
Cheers,
Sonya
Follow @weekinfarcaster.eth, and subscribe to This Week in Farcaster on Paragraph.