# Farcaster's Founding Team Joins Paradigm-Backed Tempo Blockchain

*Author: Jack Inabinet*
*Published: Feb 9, 2026*
*Source: https://www.bankless.com/read/news/farcasters-founding-team-joins-paradigm-backed-tempo-blockchain*

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Farcaster founders Dan Romero, Varun Srinivasan, and the rest of Merkle team have joined the Paradigm-backed Tempo blockchain. The [announcement](https://x.com/tempo/status/2020898178086658207?s=20) comes just over two weeks after Merkle [disclosed](https://www.bankless.com/read/the-onchain-social-scene-shakeup) the sale Farcaster to ecosystem developer Neynar.

### What's the Scoop?
- **Stablecoin Pivot: **Merkle Labs – the founding team behind decentralized social protocol Farcaster – has joined Stripe's stablecoin-focused Tempo Layer 1 blockchain. Co-founders Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan both [noted](https://x.com/dwr/status/2020858149041799548?s=20) excitement around stablecoin opportunities in their acceptance posts.
- **Close Relationship:** Paradigm was a major investor in Merkle Labs, [leading](https://www.theblock.co/post/295700/paradigm-150-million-raise-web3-social-platform-farcaster) the developer's  $150M Series A fundraising round that catapulted its valuation to $1B+ unicorn status. The VC is also a major backer of Tempo, having [led](https://www.theblock.co/post/375152/stripe-tempo-500-million-series-a-thrive) the L1's $500M Series A raise at a $5B valuation in October.
- **Actively Expanding:** Tempo is aggressively acquiring developer talent from Ethereum adjacent ecosystems. The L1 contentiously [hired](https://x.com/dankrad/status/1979133618254405775?s=20) Ethereum Foundation scaling researcher Dankrad Feist immediately after its October raise and is currently [advertising](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/tempo-xyz) 17 open roles.

> Excited to welcome [@dwr](https://twitter.com/dwr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw), [@varunsrin](https://twitter.com/varunsrin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw), and the rest of the Merkle team to Tempo! [https://t.co/VH2gBxYmla](https://t.co/VH2gBxYmla)— Matt Huang (@matthuang) [February 9, 2026](https://twitter.com/matthuang/status/2020858831065043159?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)