"Merkle just helps its friends"

How many times do I have to repeat that most users and developers on Farcaster did not know Varun or myself prior to joining Farcaster.

And in some cases have *become* friends because they stuck around early on when no one else cared. We've spent years with this people socializing on this social network. :)

Don't conflate something that's earned / built with cronyism.

When I joined Farcaster, I was neither an employee of Merkle nor did I know Dan or Varun. Varun finally got me to onboard after multiple attempts, conversations lead to what I could do for the project, and I became a part of the team. I may not always agree with every decision, but I can definitely confirm firsthand there is no "help Merkle's friends" bias, and for those who know why I quit CB, they'd know just as well I wouldn't stick around at Merkle if that were the case.

BDFL of Quilibrium, Eng @ Farcaster, ex-Coinbase, always opinionated, never hydrated

/quilibrium

Was Merkle building other stuff before Farcaster? I always assumed Farcaster was the goal from the start for the Merkle team. TIL