On July 26, Farcaster announced that .eth usernames had been integrated into the protocol. By connecting one’s wallet, users now have the option to set any .eth name they own as their base layer username on the platform. It’s the name one @s when tagging someone in a cast (like this: @dwr.eth) and it’s in the web-based URL of the feed (like this: https://warpcast.com/dwr.eth). You’d also type in someone’s .eth into the search bar to try and locate them on the platform.
Coooolllllllllllllll right? I think so.
It’s so cool that I decided to conduct a little experiment. What would happen on the Farcaster platform if they sold that .eth username to someone else?
Based upon my research, approximately 99% of active .eth names on Farcaster are not listed for sale anywhere which made it hard for me to move foward. That is until I found a rather unique circumstance and played it out to its final conclusion. I wanted to post all the screenshots I took but have decided not to embarrass an unwitting participant in what I did. Here’s what happened:
A long-time Farcaster user celebrated the ENS integration by updating his account to run off his primary .eth name. That was days ago. His username on the platform became hisname.eth (I’m hiding his identity) and his feed could be viewed on the web by using that name as part of the official url for his account. It looked essentially like this: https://warpcast.com/hisname.eth.
The only problem was he didn’t actually own the .eth name. It expired in January! When .eth names expire, all the wallet data remains in place until someone new actually registers the name from the registry. So even though he no longer had access to edit or manage the name, the name still resolved to his wallet address. When he connected his wallet address to Farcaster, Farcaster validated the name as his and allowed him to become hisname.eth on the platform.
First I tagged him on Farcaster from my regular account and then a minute later registered his expired name on ENS. I then asked Farcaster to validate the name as mine, which it did. Immediately, the URL for the feed of hisname.eth began to redirect to my profile instead of his. If I now choose to make that name my official username, then it will be my profile on the receiving end of future @s for that name and me that pops up in search for it. So I got his URL, his username, all future tags, and all future searches for it. 🤯
I did not get his followers, however. His “account” remained but was reverted to a more primitive form of ID. He no longer has a username at all, lol, and can’t be @’d. Instead he’s been reduced to a display name and a farcaster ID #. He can’t be tagged and I’m unable to even look him up. There’s a new URL for his account but there’s no username in it. He has been effectively rugged. I suppose he will probably have the option to set a new replacement username.
If this arrangement had been by mutual agreement with him, I could potentially update my profile info and bio to mimic his and effectively become him on the platform. 🤯 I would still not have his followers but surely they could be wooed back if the content being cast was more or less similar to what the username did before. It would look virtually indistinguishable.
I could dive deep into all the implications of this experiment here, about borrowers using active social media .eth usernames as collateral for a loan, about buying and selling name brand usernames that people might recognize by heart, and about the potential for malicious actors, but I’ll save that for another time. In the interim, just know that I successfully rugged a Farcaster user’s username because it had expired and I to some limited degree became him on the platform.
If you’re reading this and have discovered that it’s you I rugged, I’ll send you your name back for free. It’s got a whole new year of registration added to it. You’re welcome and don’t forget to renew next time!