Wield L2 - the first Farcaster Layer 2

The Wield L2 is the first and largest Farcaster Layer 2 that allows users to submit Farcaster messages directly to a federated, open-source superhub - bypassing onchain storage fees or Farcaster ID fee requirements. The Wield L2 has already done millions of messages external to the Farcaster network. The Wield L2 APIs also supports directly submitting messages to Farcaster through a hosted hub if a user so chooses, making our APIs L1 + L2 agnostic. Farcaster IDs also function directly on the Wield L2, a perfect usecase for users with expired storage, who want to reach a different audience, or during widescale Farcaster network outages.

The Wield L2 allows the opportunity for more protocol exploration, as federation allows anyone to fork an open-source repo and add new MessageTypes or other open-ended experimentation (e.g. gaming on Farcaster). Wield can also function independently during Farcaster network outages (e.g. during February 2024).

Social protocol L2s are an unexplored territory, so the evolution of Wield L2 will be necessary - we will explore ways to checkpoint or transmit Wield L2 activity onto the Farcaster L1. The Farcaster L1 already deletes data through storage constraints and expiry, making proving data from the correct wallet and signer a more important constaint.

We hope the Wield L2 encourages many more experiments on the Farcaster ecosystem. Given varying degrees of disposable income globally, a major goal of far.quest was getting both international and curious users to try Farcaster without spending a large upfront fee on something they might immediately churn on. We believe for social networks, frictionless growth should be prioritized, and we want to help many users to transition to the Farcaster L1. To give context on the success of federation, Threads is the second largest text-based client with 175M MAU and does a federated approach. A Farcaster L2 like the Wield L2 will help proliferate Farcaster.

Get started today by building with our free, open-source Farcaster L1 + L2 APIs!

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