thoughts onchain, the writings of chris carell
I sit here on March 20, 2025 excited about Ethereum, a civilizational infrastructure which is immutable, credibly neutral, unstoppable and censorship resistant. These will matter in a world where cooperation becomes more difficult by the day. I wanted to note specific things I'm excited about in this moment. First, are the near-term features in development that will give Ethereum a first class…
One of the promises of crypto is in providing ownership of the Network to the Network's participants. This goes beyond memecoins, which arguably gives you ownership of a networked meme, to use cases with more gravity such as core protocols and software products that run the new Internet. This includes Ethereum itself and key infrastructure like ENS, Uniswap, and Aerodrome, the Wallets, identity…
I have a Hypersub that I use to airdrop my artworks on people who appreciate my art. It’s a curated selection of NFTs, usually the ones that move me the most and I want in the most people’s wallet. Here are the drops. I created an artwork today about the relationship between man and ai and minted it on Moshicam. A window into the future. I also had a very cool conversation with Aether, a Farcaster…
update: There was a key point I failed to tell in this essay. It was added and attached to the bottom. I released an erc-20 via Clanker today called $CCARELLA. It’s OK to call it a memecoin. Just before launching, I announced it with the following cast and I included this cast in my discussion with Clanker so others who found the clanker post could see it.Chris Carella on WarpcastI'm about to…
Open source onchain ecosystems are essential engines of innovation. Together, they drive advancements in decentralized infrastructure, fintech, art, culture, identity, privacy, communications, coordination and trust. However, their promise of collective progress and open collaboration often comes with structural challenges. Misaligned incentives, sustainability issues, inadequate compensation…
special thanks to aether, an ai agent on farcaster, and the entire Higher Network for inspiration. The relationship between individual ambition and collective achievement is central to human progress. While personal pursuits inspire innovation and creativity, they often reach their fullest potential within the context of networks; human, social, digital, economic and memetic. Designing systems…
I left crypto in 2021 during the bull market and peak NFT mania. Something just felt off. I met so many "entrepreneurs" who were raising money and offering me jobs that felt disingenuous and who were doing it all for the wrong reasons. Celebrities and influencers followed suit. Carnival barkers were everywhere. I rejoined as soon as the bear market arrived. All of those other people had left.…
I felt a little burned out of Nouns. I had been spending a lot of time on it, not just by traveling and representing Nouns at events this summer but through making myself available to help introduce people to Nouns and how it operates, giving feedback and making edits on props before they are candidates or once they were candidates. Then of course, there is all of the work everyone in Governance…
A few weeks ago I recorded an episode of The Optimism Show where I touched on grants, art and Scout Game. They chopped it up into 3 different episodes and today they released the section on art. I often don't even listen to my own appearances but I listened to this one and was happy with how well it represented my various thoughts on art. I recommend you give it a watch/listen. Inspired by that…
Farcaster’s community of intellectually curious, tech-savvy early adopters provides a valuable environment for beta testing consumer apps, particularly those intersecting with crypto. Over my 15+ years of launching consumer applications, I have found Farcaster to be the most concentrated network of users willing to engage deeply with new products, spend money, report bugs, and provide detailed…
I joined CharmVerse a couple of years ago to help realize a vision for the future of work, powered by crypto infrastructure, developed by co-founders Alex Poon and Matt Casey. We built CharmVerse as an open-source DAO tool, which many described as "Notion for DAOs." Our goal was to create a new coordination model that would enable the creation of a million DAOs. Early on, we gained solid traction,…
Retroactive Public Goods Funding (Retro Funding) provides an effective framework for addressing a challenge faced by communities, organizations, and networks that hope to build and maintain public goods: how do we sustainably reward those who create value for the public interest, especially when traditional funding models fall short?The Problem with Traditional Funding Models for Public…
This is an idea I'm workshopping in public... A free-to-use Layer 2 (L2) where gas fees are fully subsidized could be what is needed to onboard a billion users onchain by eliminating transaction costs, with alternative business models sustaining the network. Leveraging tools like Coinbase Smart Wallet and Privy, users can create and sign into their wallets with email addresses or passkeys and then…
This morning, I saw a Paragraph post from Eric Rhodes in my Warpcast feed. Instead of being taken to Safari, I was able to read it in-app—Paragraph’s mini-app in action. It struck me how seamless this experience was, showcasing the potential for mini-apps on Warpcast. In contrast to the usual context-switching between apps, the mini-app allowed me to stay within the platform while interacting with…
Ponder is best app to run Surveys and Q&A’s on Farcaster. They have been building on Farcaster long before frames. The initial product a survey bot and now they have excellent frames, composers actions and cast actions. Ponder let me test a new Bounty Feature where you can reward people who give you the best Q&A answers. I used it today, along with 15 OP to incentivize people to send me their best…
The Scout Game Wait List Frame. CharmVerse has officially launched the Scout Game Waitlist—a two-week campaign designed to build momentum and gather crucial feedback ahead of our game’s full release. Sign up today and secure your spot among the first to experience the Scout Game when it launches. The Waitlist itself is gamified. The more clicks your unique frame receives, the more points you…
WarpcastA cast about my dog was my most popular cast in ages. What can I buy her for 5 USDC?I don’t talk about it much but remember that time I won an Emmy?A weekend sneak peak about the Scout Game.Where I work from, but for real.Posting daily about my crypto optimism. Here is one.Everything I casted about the new iPhone was a hit. The people love iPhone.ZoraBuilderFiCrackedWritingWhat can Purple…
@ted on not enough interesting contentThe original question Dan was replying to was, why has growth of new users slowed for Farcaster? Dan argues that Warpcast's slowing user growth and retention is due to a lack of diverse and engaging content across different interest areas. Ted added nuance to this position, which Dan agreed with. Farcaster is full of amazing content in one niche vertical:…
When I heard that GM Farcaster was celebrating its 1 year anniversary with a 24 hour live stream I dm'd them to ask how I could get involved. We decided I would join to talk about Purple Builders. We have so many great builders in Purple that its an easy thing to talk about but its hard to write about without feeling like you've left 100 people off your list. By way of filter, here is a list of…
A cast from earlier today.I'm a big fan of what the Fabric team is building with Hypersub. Hypersub is a tool to create recurring revenue...