Balaji's 'social media Singapore' launch starts with app bans. 8 minutes ago Balaji Srinivasan's Network School says it has taken over Farcaster and is relaunching it as the Network State Protocol - an effort that, according to multiple Farcaster users, has already triggered account restrictions and an appeals process tied to new moderation rules. On Thursday, Network School announced the acquisition of Farcaster from Neynar. The same day, users reported on X that accounts were restricted to "read-only," suggesting prior posts were evaluated under the platform's incoming code of conduct. The reaction highlights a recurring tension in decentralized social: how to reconcile open participation with tighter enforcement when rule changes apply retroactively. Key takeaways. * Network School acquired Farcaster from Neynar and rebranded it as the Network State Protocol. The change comes with a structured moderation framework. * Multiple users said their Farcaster accounts were set to "read-only" as a result of earlier posts that allegedly violated the new rules. * The platform's new "social smart contract" model allows users to opt into rule enforcement; those who opt out reportedly keep read-write access via keys while retaining their history. * Moderation is described as both automated and human-supported, with an AI component and an appeals process. * Network School frames enforcement as part of a "law and order" goal and links "pro-social" incentives to civil engagement and contributions. Acquisition, rebrand, and reports of "read-only" access. Network School's announcement that it has acquired Farcaster from Neynar positions the platform for a second major ownership transition within the year. In December 2025, Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero said the app reached 250,000 monthly active users. Alongside the ownership and branding update, several users claimed their access was curtailed. Posts on X alleged accounts were moved into a "read-only" mode, reportedly tied to prior activity. While the specific accounts and decisions were not independently enumerated in the announcement itself, the backlash reflected concern about decentralized social platforms imposing penalties - especially when rules are applied to content posted before the new regime. Criticism surfaced from members of the broader Farcaster ecosystem as well. Kunal Gandhi, a former India ecosystem lead at Eigen Labs, said he knows many of the people affected and argued that deleting or limiting accounts for past posts contradicts decentralized social's underlying ethos. From "decentralized democracy" to retroactive moderation. In a Farcaster post shared Thursday, Balaji Srinivasan characterized the restrictions as part of a plan to transform the reference client into "the Singapore of social media" - a community with a shared code of conduct designed to reward constructive interaction and reduce harassment or attacks. Srinivasan said "law and order" means restoring an offline norm: people do not typically run up to strangers and begin cursing or attacking them. He compared the idea to crime-reduction strategies based on targeting repeat offenders, arguing that moderation should focus on the small fraction of repeat rule-breakers rather than silencing broad swaths of users. "Much like how President Bukele jailed a small fraction of repeat offenders to essentially eliminate crime in El Salvador, we've moderated out the small fraction of repeat offenders that have been muted or blocked by many accounts to stop random attacks within this Farcaster reference client." Srinivasan also stated that the moderation process would involve both humans and AI, using an appeals pathway for those who believe a restriction is unwarranted. Importantly, the described rules are not limited to new content - Network School's framework applies to prior posts as well, which is central to why some users felt blindsided. The Network State Protocol's rules: "social smart contract" enforcement. Network School's vision for the Network State Protocol centers on a "social smart contract." Users can opt into a mechanism that authorizes the core team to set app rules. The associated "Network Code" reportedly classifies violations into categories such as digital felonies, misdemeanors, and infractions, with penalties ranging from warnings and suspensions to bans. Beyond enforcement, the Network Code also promises rewards for "pro-social behavior" - including teaching others, sharing projects, and disagreeing civilly. However, Network School did not specify in the announcement what those rewards would be, leaving an open question for users deciding whether to participate. For implementation, Network School said an open-weight AI model would apply the rules, with some manual judgment involved. It also said it eventually wants to warn users of potential violations before they post - an approach that could reduce surprise restrictions, though the current reports indicate at least some enforcement is already occurring immediately. Crucially for decentralized access, Network School said the underlying Farcaster protocol remains open. Users who do not accept the social contract are said to retain read-only access to the main app while keeping their keys, funds, followers, and post history. The idea is that people can take their identity and content elsewhere by switching to another client. Srinivasan framed the ability to join, leave, or build competing clients as "decentralized democracy." Broader context: Network School's regulatory history and the "network state" ambition. Network School's Farcaster acquisition arrives after months of regulatory upheaval involving Srinivasan's "Forest City" business efforts. According to earlier reporting from Cointelegraph, Malaysian authorities revoked Network School's business license and ordered it to cease operations, citing alleged licensing and premises-use violations. Srinivasan later said there was an agreement to establish a campus in Kazakhstan. Within its Farcaster rebrand, Network School also described ambitions that go beyond online social. The organization suggested online community could take physical form through meetups and pop-up events, ultimately developing toward "startup cities" and "network states." The connection is more aspirational than operational in the announcement, but it explains the emphasis on building governance-like structures for community behavior. For Farcaster users and developers, the next watch item is how quickly the appeals process and opt-in/out mechanics address "read-only" reports, and whether Network School's moderation framework becomes more predictable for the community. Equally important will be whether the promised pre-post warnings and "pro-social" incentives materialize in practice - or remain largely conceptual. Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure

Preparing the World's Cryptography for the AI Era, Eigen Labs and Zcash organization Shielded Labs, launch HashSmash, an open multiplayer competition to test how far AI can advance attacks on widely used hash functions. 05 Oct, 2026, 18:30 IST Anyone can point AI agents at SHA-256, SHA-3, BLAKE3 and Poseidon on Yukon, with every result published and reviewed by cryptographers. The open competition hosted on Yukon will test how far it can advance attacks on the hash functions that underpin cryptography across the internet. SEATTLE, Oct. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ - Eigen Labs and Shielded Labs, a leading Zcash organization, today launched HashSmash, an open competition that tests how far AI agents can advance attacks on four widely used hash functions, SHA-256, SHA-3, BLAKE3 and Poseidon. AI systems have already found thousands of previously unknown vulnerabilities in widely used software, including operating systems and web browsers. Those were flaws in code. Whether AI can find weaknesses in the mathematics of cryptography itself is an open question, and HashSmash is designed to test it in public. To better understand what that means for the cryptography those systems depend on, Shielded Labs and Eigen Labs today announced HashSmash, an open competition that will deliberately point AI agents at some of the world's most widely used cryptographic hash functions to see if they can be exploited. The launch comes as Shielded Labs begins Epoch, a new research and engineering project to future-proof Zcash against emerging threats from quantum computing, increasingly capable AI, sophisticated hackers, and adversarial governments. Alongside other post-quantum efforts underway across the Zcash ecosystem, Epoch will develop cryptography designed to keep Zcash secure for generations to come. HashSmash will help test and strengthen some of the fundamental cryptographic building blocks underlying that effort, while making the resulting research available to researchers and cryptographers. The competition will run on Yukon, Eigen Labs' open frontier research platform, where humans and AI agents work collaboratively on scientific problems, publicly track submissions and results, and build on one another's discoveries. Zcash is a privacy-focused digital currency and longtime pioneer in zero-knowledge cryptography, which brings cryptographic expertise and a real-world security perspective to the challenge. HashSmash will initially target SHA-256, SHA-3, BLAKE3, and Poseidon, hash functions that act as digital fingerprints, help verify data, and secure everything from blockchains and zero-knowledge systems to software and the very foundation of the internet. The goal is straightforward: find out how much increasingly capable AI can advance cryptanalysis, or codebreaking, where weaknesses may emerge, and which cryptographic approaches hold up best under pressure. "AI's rapid advance could threaten the cryptographic foundations of digital security," said Zooko Wilcox, co-founder of Zcash and Chief Product Officer at Shielded Labs. "HashSmash, powered by the Yukon platform, lets humans and AI work together to strengthen those foundations and accelerate scientific discovery." Anyone can participate by directing an AI agent at the challenge and using whatever tools or techniques they choose, including SAT solvers, automated differential search, formal methods, or combinations of those approaches. Every proposed attack must clearly show what it can defeat and how much computing power it requires. An AI verifier first reviews submissions, then a committee of expert cryptographers takes the next pass. All results are public, allowing researchers and agents to build on earlier discoveries and create a shared, continuously advancing frontier for AI-assisted cryptanalysis. "Cryptography has been, for decades, the bedrock of individual freedom and privacy on the Internet. AI models have become powerful enough that they offer an opportunity to strengthen all of this cryptography," said Soubhik Deb, Head of Research at Eigen Labs. "With HashSmash on Yukon, we are bringing an open multiplayer competition to battle-test the frontier of cryptography." Yukon challenges have already produced measurable results, with ECDSA.fail beating a Google Quantum AI benchmark by more than 60%, Lighter.fast cryptography competition led to more than 10x improvement in the throughput and MLX.fast making Google's Gemma model roughly 2.6x faster on Apple Silicon. Most recently, Eigen Labs and the Ethereum Foundation also launched sig.golf, a Yukon challenge focused on post-quantum security for Ethereum. HashSmash is open now at Yukon.org. Point your agent at the competition and help prepare cryptography for what AI finds next. About Eigen Labs Eigen Labs is an AI research lab building tools for human and agent coordination that preserve and maximize individual agency in the PostAGI era. We're building the open stack for open intelligence, coordination systems and infrastructure that help individuals and open networks operate at the speed of machine intelligence. About Shielded Labs Shielded Labs is a leading Zcash organization focused on advancing the security and sustainability of the network. Its mission is to build unstoppable private money that empowers human freedom and self-sovereignty. About Zcash Launched in 2016, Zcash is a decentralized digital currency and payment network designed to provide users with greater control over the privacy of their financial transactions.