Farcaster co-founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan are joining stablecoin startup Tempo, marking a strategic pivot from crypto-native social media to blockchain-based payments. The move comes just weeks after Neynar acquired Farcaster, the protocol once positioned as crypto's answer to Twitter.

Neynar, a longtime infrastructure provider for the network, purchased Farcaster last month, prompting Romero, Srinivasan and their Merkle team to step away from the social protocol project. In a post on X, Romero announced his new focus on building a "fast, inexpensive and transparent" global payments network at Tempo.

Tempo, launched quietly last year, has quickly emerged as one of the most well-capitalized ventures in the stablecoin space. The startup was incubated by payments giant Stripe and crypto venture firm Paradigm, both bringing deep expertise in financial infrastructure development. The company aims to revolutionize international payments using stablecoins as an alternative to traditional cross-border systems that remain costly, slow and opaque.

Quick Fact: Tempo was incubated by payments giant Stripe and crypto venture firm Paradigm.