On September 17, during the inaugural FarCon Asia event in Asia, Farcaster founder Dan Romero addressed concerns about the efficacy of the $5 joining fee in deterring bot activity. A participant raised the issue, questioning if Farcaster should consider removing the fee given the persistence of bots in the community. Romero acknowledged this concern, explaining that eliminating fees could result in an influx of spam, thereby destabilizing the network. He drew parallels to the transaction costs associated with Ethereum and Bitcoin, emphasizing the necessity of fees to maintain network integrity.
To combat spam, Romero discussed the introduction of a high-trust user group, each endowed with invitation rights, to effectively manage growth and reduce spam. He noted that while there is room to potentially lower the fee to $4, some form of cost is essential to ensure the system’s longevity. The event, organized by Tako Protocol, COINOTAG, and Jam, sought to explore the Farcaster ecosystem’s innovations and future within the Web3 social networking domain. The conference boasted participation from over 500 attendees, including ecosystem builders, active users, venture capitalists, renowned investors, and senior researchers.