far.quest L2 - the first Farcaster Layer 2

The far.quest L2 is the first 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 far.quest L2 has already done millions of messages and hosts ~100,000 .cast handles that can submit messages external to the Farcaster network. The far.quest 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 far.quest L2, a perfect usecase for users with expired storage.

The far.quest 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). far.quest can also function independently during Farcaster network outages (e.g. during February 2024).

Social protocol L2s are an unexplored territory, so the evolution of far.quest L2 will be necessary - we will explore ways to checkpoint or transmit far.quest 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 far.quest L2 encourages many more experiments on the Farcaster ecosystem. Given varying degrees of wealth globally, a major goal of far.quest was getting international users to try Farcaster without spending a large upfront fee on something they might not like. 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 almost 100M MAU and are planning a federated approach. A Farcaster L2 like the far.quest L2 will help proliferate Farcaster.

The far.quest hub requires a Farcaster ID or a .cast handle, which is free on Ethereum and requires a small fee on Optimism, to discourage bots. Paying Ethereum gas or ~39 cents a year is a positive signal that a user is legitimate. This requirement can be changed by an operator since far.quest's L2 is open-source.

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

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