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One of crypto’s most ambitious social media experiments is entering a new phase, and investors are getting a rare outcome in the process.

Merkle Manufactory, the company behind Farcaster, plans to repay $180 million to its venture backers, according to co-founder Dan Romero. The repayment follows Neynar’s acquisition of the Farcaster protocol, a move that raised questions this week about the project’s future and sparked confusion among users.

Romero moved quickly to clarify the situation. Farcaster is not shutting down, he said on X, and the protocol will continue operating under new ownership. What is changing is Merkle itself. After years of building, fundraising, and experimentation, the company is effectively winding down and returning capital to investors rather than pushing ahead as a standalone startup.

That outcome is unusual in venture-backed crypto, where projects more often limp along or quietly disappear. Farcaster was once valued at around $1 billion and attracted major backers during the peak of Web3 enthusiasm. But scaling decentralized social platforms has proven difficult. Ownership and tokens can help, but they do not automatically solve the challenge of building daily user habits.

The decision also reflects a broader shift across crypto. Consolidation is accelerating, with larger players acquiring infrastructure and smaller teams stepping aside. In that sense, Farcaster’s transition looks less like a failure and more like a sign that the industry is maturing and choosing sustainability over ambition at any cost.

Ledger, one of the best-known makers of crypto hardware wallets, is exploring a potential public listing in the United States.

Ledger is in talks with major banks including Goldman Sachs and Barclays about a U.S. IPO that could value the company at more than $4 billion, according to a FT report. While plans are not final, the discussions show how established financial institutions are increasingly involved with crypto-native companies.

The timing comes after a difficult year for crypto users. Hacks and fraud surged in 2025, with more than $3 billion stolen, according to industry data. 

As a result, more investors have turned to hardware wallets, which store crypto keys offline rather than on exchanges or apps connected to the internet. Ledger said it had a record year in 2025, with revenue reaching the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Founded in Paris in 2014, Ledger has grown into one of the largest providers of crypto storage devices.

The IPO discussions follow BitGo’s Thursday debut on the New York Stock Exchange, adding Ledger to a growing list of crypto firms considering public markets as a next step.

On Thursday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced a joint event aimed at highlighting their shared approach to crypto oversight. 

The timing matters. Both agencies now have Trump-appointed leaders, removing a key source of internal friction that has long plagued the industry.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins and newly confirmed CFTC Chair Mike Selig will appear together next week to outline how they are coordinating policy under Donald Trump’s pro-crypto agenda. The two said markets have struggled with unclear and overlapping rules and that closer cooperation is meant to fix that.

The event comes as Congress continues to debate a broader crypto market structure bill that would formally define each agency’s role. While lawmakers argue over details, regulators appear eager to show progress on their own.

For the crypto industry, the message is subtle but important. The turf wars may not be fully over, but Washington is at least trying to speak with one voice.

The crew digs into the Trove token crash, the death of InfoFi and Farcaster’s exit.

Trove Markets crashed at launch after a hyped ICO. X has pulled the plug on the InfoFi meta. Farcaster has been absorbed.

In this packed Uneasy Money episode, hosts Luca Netz, Kain Warwick and Taylor Monahan delve into how Trove’s crash suggests that crypto’s ICO struggles persist. Kain suggests X’s move to block out InfoFi applications is “bullish” for the platform and the crew explores what’s next for decentralized social media along with the takeaways from Farcaster’s run.

They also discuss the pervasiveness of wallet poisoning scams, why Cosmos is struggling despite its good tech and why Paradex’s rollback suggests that crypto’s “code is law” ethos may be dying out.

Don’t miss out on how Luca nearly got wrapped up in the Trove drama and Tay’s tips to spot suspicious projects. Plus, why Kain thinks two people building with AI could succeed where Farcaster failed.

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Fountain, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform.