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Crypto influencer Autism Capital has requested Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, to resume active participation on X, critiquing his retreat to Farcaster.
According to the influencer, Vitalik’s use of the decentralized social media platform Farcaster and spending time with a smaller group of peers aren’t helping Ethereum grow. Autism Capital urged the Ethereum co-founder to “get back on X,” claiming it would have a much greater impact on the project’s development.
Vitalik needs to get back on X. Farcaster isn’t going to win the culture war. If he wants Ethereum to shine he should engage more on this platform, not sequester himself with his chosen peers on an island. He will have far more impact if he engages the bigger community here.
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) March 25, 2024
Space X CEO Elon Musk also joined the conversation, inquiring about Buterin’s departure.
“Why did he leave?” asked Musk, prompting a flood of responses from community participants.
One user speculated that Buterin’s decision could have been influenced by the increasing number of bot accounts on the platform. Another user echoed this sentiment, referencing a post from Tyler John from Jan. 2024, discussing the bot issue.
According to John, Buterin’s posts are usually flooded by “sycophants, crypto bots, and followers,” who spam the replies section every time the Ethereum co-founder posts something.
“Vitalik Buterin has to append every reply with “srry 4 ratio-ing” because immediately afterwards a deluge of sycophants, crypto bots, and followers rains down on the post with tickers, memes, and expressions of praise and all the OP can see is #ETH and $SOL for three days,” John wrote.
Buerin agreed to these reasons in response, claiming that this prompted him to do most of his posting on Farcaster.
His pivot to Farcaster was also preceded by a security breach on his X account. The attackers posted malicious phishing links and stole over $690,000 from unsuspecting users.
Farcaster, a decentralized social app protocol, has seen a notable increase in user engagement and developer interest. Buterin has expressed his belief in the platform’s long-term potential, expecting it to remain a significant player in the digital space beyond a mere seasonal trend.
This optimism followed the platform’s notable performance metrics, including a 400% increase in daily active users following the launch of new features like “frames” on its Warpcast application.
According to Dune Analytics, Farcaster’s daily active user count had surged from 5,000 on Jan. 28 to over 24,700 by Feb. 3. The volume of new daily casts also experienced a dramatic rise at the time, marking a 1,000% increase.
However, a Feb. 18 report revealed that Farcaster wasn’t fully bot—and spam-free. Several users have started noticing a drop in conversation quality despite the platform’s growing popularity.
Buterin himself had weighed in on the matter while still considering Farcaster a viable X alternative. He added that addressing the issue of increasing spam was Farcaster’s next challenge.