Web3 Social Video SPE Pre-Proposal: Connecting Livepeer to Farcaster, Base and Coinbase Wallet

Treasury
1

Authors

Nick Hollins and Pablo Voorvart

Abstract

This SPE proposal establishes an ongoing initiative to integrate Livepeer-powered video streaming into the Farcaster, Base, and Coinbase Wallet ecosystems. While a key milestone of this effort is the development of a UFO mini-app enabling live video playback, the broader mission is to steward Livepeer’s presence in emerging onchain social and media networks. This SPE will serve as a long-term vehicle for funding web3-native video infrastructure, ensuring continuous development, adoption, and partnership cultivation.

Key Contributors

Nick Hollins is the founder of UFO, the world’s first onchain radio station, a pioneering platform and technology team in the onchain media ecosystem since 2022. He has established relationships with key members from teams at Base, Farcaster, Coinbase Wallet and other relevant projects.

Pablo Voorvart is the founder of StreamETH and a longstanding contributor from the Livepeer developer community. Their live-streaming platform uses AI to simplify production and post-production and is the premier onchain video streaming platform for events in the blockchain ecosystem.

Woj is in product and engineering at Warpcast which is the flagship Farcaster client, and was previously the founder of Supercast. He’s ready to be a point of contact with the Warpcast team for driving adoption of web3 video streaming from Livepeer and giving development support for broadcasting mini apps.

Mission

The primary objective of this SPE is to own the relationship between Livepeer, Farcaster, Base, and Coinbase Wallet, driving the development and adoption of decentralized video infrastructure in these rapidly growing ecosystems. Currently, Livepeer lacks an established presence in these networks, limiting its potential adoption and impact. This SPE addresses that gap by acting as the dedicated force behind Livepeer’s web3 expansion, ensuring that video streaming remains a core feature of Farcaster social interactions, Base media applications, and Coinbase Wallet integrations.

The long-term goal is to develop and maintain foundational tooling that all creators, developers, and platforms can leverage. To test this hypothesis, the initial focus will be on launching a mini-app, run by UFO.

Additionally, this initiative will ensure that Livepeer remains at the center of web3 video discussions, fostering strategic collaborations and continued adoption.

Without this SPE, the web3 video space risks stagnation, as no entity is currently tasked with prioritizing and advancing Livepeer’s role in these ecosystems. This effort ensures that Livepeer becomes an integral part of the next phase of decentralized social and media platforms.

Rationale

This SPE is not just about building a single product — It is about re-establishing Livepeer’s leadership of video innovation in onchain social. Assuring an enduring presence for Livepeer within Farcaster, Base, and Coinbase Wallet. The UFO mini-app will serve as the first proof of concept, demonstrating how Livepeer-powered live streaming can be natively integrated into Farcaster Frames V2. However, beyond this initial deployment, this SPE will facilitate:

  • Infrastructure Development – Researching, prototyping, and deploying further web3-native video experiences beyond the initial mini-app.
  • Strategic Partnerships – Acting as Livepeer’s primary representatives in Farcaster and Base, ensuring decentralized video remains a priority.
  • Developer Advocacy – Providing documentation, support, and incentives for other teams to build on top of the tools developed.
  • Ongoing Funding & Sustainability – Establishing this SPE as a recurring funding vehicle, ensuring long-term ownership of web3 video innovation within Livepeer.

Given the current momentum in Farcaster and Base, now is the ideal time to push for Livepeer’s integration into these ecosystems. Livepeer DAO is actively deploying funds to drive ecosystem growth, and Coinbase Wallet’s recent Farcaster integration presents a significant distribution opportunity. By taking ownership of this initiative, this SPE will ensure that Livepeer remains a key player in the evolution of decentralized media.

SPE Governance Structure

The SPE will be governed through approval by Livepeer stakeholders, ensuring alignment with the broader ecosystem’s goals. The core execution team — Nick Hollins, and Pablo Voorvart — will be responsible for developing and implementing the roadmap, coordinating between ecosystem partners, and ensuring long-term success.

Key governance elements include:

  • Livepeer stakeholders voting on initial and continued funding allocations.
  • UFO team maintaining ownership of technical development and strategic ecosystem alignment.
  • Regular reporting on progress, adoption metrics, and ecosystem impact.

Milestones and Timeline

1. Research & Development (Month 1-2)

  • Develop HLS playback functionality for Farcaster mini-apps.
  • Build the UFO mini-app prototype with live streaming enabled.
  • Establish core infrastructure for video playback integration.

2. Deployment & Testing (Month 3)

  • Deploy the UFO mini-app with integrated Livepeer live streaming.
  • Conduct initial testing with partner creators and platforms.
  • Ensure seamless UX/UI experience across Farcaster and Coinbase Wallet.
  • Host activation for builders and ecosystem partners at FarCon, May 1-4

3. Go-To-Market & Adoption (Month 4-5)

  • Launch marketing and awareness campaign with Base, Coinbase Wallet, Farcaster, and Livepeer teams.
  • Engage creators and communities through strategic partnerships (e.g., Refraction, Higher, the park) to expand adoption of Livepeer-enabled mini-apps by artists, musicians, creators and media producers
  • Promote developer adoption through hackathons and community incentives.

4. Documentation & Ecosystem Expansion (Month 6)

  • Publish technical documentation for teams to integrate video playback into their applications.
  • Support additional teams in launching their own mini-apps powered by this technology.
  • Evaluate success metrics and propose next steps for long-term sustainability.
  • Assess expansion with further social ecosystems e.g. Lens and Lukso

Budget Breakdown

Requested Funding: 15,000 LPT for a 6 month execution period.

Allocation:

  • Development & Engineering: 30%
  • Ecosystem Engagement & Partnerships: 30%
  • Marketing & Adoption: 25%
  • Operational Costs & Overhead: 10%
  • Bounties/External Contributors: 5%

The budget is structured to ensure sustainable development while incentivizing external contributions that align with the public goods nature of this project.

Deliverables

  • Fully functional mini-app with Livepeer-powered live streaming on Farcaster.
  • Open-source HLS playback integration for Farcaster Frames V2.
  • Creator and developer adoption metrics (e.g., active broadcasts, user engagement).
  • Technical documentation for ecosystem-wide integration.
  • Partnerships established with key ecosystem players (Base, Coinbase Wallet, Farcaster, onchain communities).
  • Quarterly reports on adoption and ecosystem impact.

Transparency & Accountability

To ensure accountability, the SPE will provide:

  • Quarterly progress reports outlining technical development, adoption metrics, and financial transparency.
  • Public-facing dashboards tracking key KPIs (e.g., number of active broadcasts, user engagement, developer adoption).
  • Community engagement updates via Farcaster, Livepeer DAO forums, and partner channels.

By maintaining a transparent approach, this SPE will foster trust and alignment with the broader ecosystem while ensuring the long-term success of web3 video.

Key Terms (Optional)

  • SPE (Special Purpose Entity): A designated structure for executing focused initiatives within the Livepeer ecosystem.
  • Farcaster Frames V2: A framework enabling interactive content experiences within the Farcaster ecosystem.
  • HLS (HTTP Live Streaming): A streaming protocol that enables adaptive video playback.
  • Coinbase Wallet Mini-Apps: A new integration layer allowing applications to run within Coinbase Wallet’s interface.

Conclusion

This SPE represents a critical opportunity to push web3 video forward, connecting Livepeer initially with Farcaster, Base, Coinbase Wallet, and then looking to expand to other web3 social ecosystems. By building foundational infrastructure and fostering ecosystem-wide adoption, this initiative will unlock new possibilities for decentralized media and onchain social. With dedicated funding, governance, and strategic execution, this project will establish web3 video as a key pillar of the decentralized internet.

6 Likes
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Interesting proposal. This is definitely an opportunity and gap in the Livepeer ecosystem at the moment. Even though the team that works on Livepeer Studio has put a lot of effort into this category over the years, the usage and growth of the client video applications built within those ecosystems hasn’t really justified it being the highest priority. (No web3 social breakout video apps).

I think there’s a lot of opportunity to actually be part of enabling this video innovation and success in web3 however, and it’s a good use of treasury funds to enable an entity to have dedicated focus on this. Often times it may look like building innovative web3 video experiments and think about what can uniquely be enabled by combining blockchain primitives with video. Building sample apps or early app experiments within these ecosystems is one way to do that. They also bring nice marketing and awareness benefits.

One of the biggest unaddressed risks in the proposal is actually in recognizing the gap between what the Livepeer network offers at its core, and what a killer video app within a web3 ecosystem might need. IE they need more than just transcoding or AI compute, they need a global end-to-end low latency streaming service. IE Livepeer Studio. But they also need support, and troubleshooting, and custom feature development, etc. Essentially this SPE would have to be a customer of Studio (or build a Studio-quality service), and there’s a lot more costs to getting that realtime support and custom development than just paying the network for transcoding.

There’s also a question of the Studio team’s ability to prioritize any custom development or support given their pretty big focus on realtime AI video at the moment. So I wonder if there’s a way this SPE can minimize its reliance on any Studio custom support and development, while pursuing these web3 integrations.

2 Likes
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Hi @dob, thanks for pointing this out and I fully understand that the priority of Studio may have shifted. Are there any ways forwards or workaround which you could suggest as an alternative?

3 Likes
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A couple ideas:

  1. Just use Studio in a self-serve way. Prove out success and growth. And then figure it out from there. (If it’s growing and driving a lot of usage it could motivate support or afford to pay for the needed resources to support).

  2. I think Aquaduct/Stream.place was supposed to be a self-sovereign web3-centric backend for web3 streaming. How’s the progress there @iameli? This SPE could be a good design partner?

  3. Is the Cloud SPE still running an alternative streaming gateway to Studio?

FWIW I think getting started building on Studio in a self serve way is probably the easiest starting point. I just wanted to flag the risk that this SPE’s success doesn’t rely on the network alone, and actually depends on a service built on top.

2 Likes
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Hi @dob appreciate this feedback. We do intend to use Livepeer Studio in a self-serve way for the mini app component, as you note we ‘need a global end-to-end low latency streaming service.’

Agreed it’s important to minimize dependency on the Studio team and will do so with @pablov running point on engineering. If the SPE is driving a lot of usage then we could consider additional resources and support in future if there’s opportunities in doing so.

Beyond this the SPE is exploring whether apps like Warpcast and Coinbase Wallet can be breakout killer apps for web3 video and drive usage for Livepeer. If we produce the mini app primitive then ideally many projects can follow without dependencies on the Livepeer Studio team.

4 Likes
6

Great. Sounds like a good path for getting started!

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@nickhollins Thanks for putting together this proposal! Leveraging treasury funding to expand Livepeer’s presence in the Web3 social space is a valuable initiative, especially as we work toward truly decentralizing video-focused social media.

One suggestion: I’d recommend a quick meeting with @iameli from Stream Place SPE, as there seems to be significant overlap between your proposals. The Aquarium proposal, which the community approved in June, is set to establish Primitives and integrate with the first two social networks: Farcaster and Bluesky. Clarifying how your SPE can complement @iameli’s work and further extend that mission would help strengthen your proposal.

There may also be an opportunity for a partnership between the two SPEs—definitely worth exploring!

4 Likes
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@rickstaa Thanks for your feedback! We’re in touch with @iameli to explore ideas.

2 Likes
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This proposal meets all the vote readiness criteria outlined in the Livepeer Governance Hub:

  • It has been live in the forum for 7+ days.
  • It follows the standard SPE pre-proposal template
  • All feedback received during the discussion phase has been addressed.

It’s ready to proceed to a vote! :rocket:

10

Hello everyone.

This Pre-Proposal has been updated to incorporate feedback from the community, including from @dob and @rickstaa.

We have made updates to communicate our approach for mitigating the risk factor associated with a reliance on the Livepeer Studio team to give support, troubleshooting, and custom feature development by simply using Studio in a self-serve way. Also emphasising the role of this SPE to support the work of Aquareum and all Livepeer initiatives that interact with web3 social by promoting innovative web3 video experiments in these ecosystems.

We presented the SPE and received feedback in the most recent Livepeer Treasury Talk. Thanks also to Jose, En and Rich who have helped us to finalize this Proposal.

The name has been updated to Harmonic SPE.

Harmonic SPE Pre-Proposal: Web3 Social Video

Authors

Nick Hollins and Pablo

Abstract

This SPE proposal establishes an ongoing initiative to integrate Livepeer-powered video streaming into the Farcaster, Base, and Coinbase Wallet ecosystems. While a key milestone of this effort is the development of a UFO mini-app enabling live video playback, the broader mission is to steward Livepeer’s presence in emerging onchain social and media networks. This SPE will serve as a long-term vehicle for funding web3-native video infrastructure, ensuring continuous development, adoption, and partnership cultivation.

Key Contributors

Nick Hollins is the founder of UFO, the world’s first onchain radio station, a pioneering platform and technology team in the onchain media ecosystem since 2022. He has established relationships with key members from teams at Base, Farcaster, Coinbase Wallet and other relevant projects.

Pablo is the founder of StreamETH and a longstanding contributor from the Livepeer developer community. Their live-streaming platform uses AI to simplify production and post-production and is the premier onchain video streaming platform for events in the blockchain ecosystem.

Woj is in product and engineering at Warpcast which is the flagship Farcaster client, and was previously the founder of Supercast. He’s ready to be a point of contact with the Warpcast team for driving adoption of web3 video streaming from Livepeer and giving development support for broadcasting mini apps.

Mission

The primary objective of this SPE is to own the relationship between Livepeer, Farcaster, Base, and Coinbase Wallet, driving the development and adoption of decentralized video infrastructure in these rapidly growing ecosystems. Currently, Livepeer lacks an established presence in these networks, limiting its potential adoption and impact. This SPE addresses that gap by acting as the dedicated force behind Livepeer’s web3 expansion, ensuring that video streaming remains a core feature of Farcaster social interactions, Base media applications, and Coinbase Wallet integrations.

The long-term goal is to develop and maintain foundational tooling that all creators, developers, and platforms can leverage. To test this hypothesis, the initial focus will be on launching a mini-app, run by UFO.

Additionally, this initiative will ensure that Livepeer remains at the center of web3 video discussions, fostering strategic collaborations and continued adoption.

Without this SPE, the web3 video space risks stagnation, as no entity is currently tasked with prioritizing and advancing Livepeer’s role in these ecosystems. This effort ensures that Livepeer becomes an integral part of the next phase of decentralized social and media platforms.

This SPE will support the work of Aquareum and all Livepeer initiatives that interact with web3 social by promoting innovative web3 video experiments in these ecosystems.

Rationale

This SPE is not just about building a single product — it is about re-establishing Livepeer’s leadership of video innovation in onchain social. Assuring an enduring presence for Livepeer within Farcaster, Base, and Coinbase Wallet. The UFO mini-app will serve as the first proof of concept, demonstrating how Livepeer-powered live streaming can be natively integrated into Farcaster Frames V2. However, beyond this initial deployment, this SPE will facilitate:

  • Infrastructure Development – Researching, prototyping, and deploying further web3-native video experiences beyond the initial mini-app.
  • Strategic Partnerships – Acting as Livepeer’s primary representatives in Farcaster and Base, ensuring decentralized video remains a priority.
  • Developer Advocacy – Providing documentation, support, and incentives for other teams to build on top of the tools developed.
  • Ongoing Funding & Sustainability – Establishing this SPE as a recurring funding vehicle, ensuring long-term ownership of web3 video innovation within Livepeer.

Given the current momentum in Farcaster and Base, now is the ideal time to push for Livepeer’s integration into these ecosystems. Livepeer DAO is actively deploying funds to drive ecosystem growth, and Coinbase Wallet’s recent Farcaster integration presents a significant distribution opportunity. By taking ownership of this initiative, this SPE will ensure that Livepeer remains a key player in the evolution of decentralized media.

This SPE will mitigate the risk factor associated with a reliance on the Livepeer Studio team to give support, troubleshooting, and custom feature development by simply using Studio in a self-serve way, with Pablo running point on engineering. If the SPE is driving a lot of usage then we could consider additional resources and support in future if there’s opportunities in doing so.

SPE Governance Structure

The SPE will be governed through approval by Livepeer stakeholders, ensuring alignment with the broader ecosystem’s goals. The core execution team — Nick Hollins, and Pablo — will be responsible for developing and implementing the roadmap, coordinating between ecosystem partners, and ensuring long-term success.

Key governance elements include:

  • Livepeer stakeholders voting on initial and continued funding allocations.
  • UFO team maintaining ownership of technical development and strategic ecosystem alignment.
  • Regular reporting on progress, adoption metrics, and ecosystem impact.

Milestones and Timeline

1. Research & Development (Month 1-2)

  • Develop HLS playback functionality for Farcaster mini-apps.
  • Build the UFO mini-app prototype with live streaming enabled.
  • Establish core infrastructure for video playback integration.

2. Deployment & Testing (Month 3)

  • Deploy the UFO mini-app with integrated Livepeer live streaming.
  • Conduct initial testing with partner creators and platforms.
  • Ensure seamless UX/UI experience across Farcaster and Coinbase Wallet.
  • Host activation for builders and ecosystem partners at FarCon, May 1-4

3. Go-To-Market & Adoption (Month 4-5)

  • Launch marketing and awareness campaign with Base, Coinbase Wallet, Farcaster, and Livepeer teams.
  • Engage creators and communities through strategic partnerships (e.g., Refraction, Higher, the park) to expand adoption of Livepeer-enabled mini-apps by artists, musicians, creators and media producers
  • Promote developer adoption through hackathons and community incentives.

4. Documentation & Ecosystem Expansion (Month 6)

  • Publish technical documentation for teams to integrate video playback into their applications.
  • Support additional teams in launching their own mini-apps powered by this technology.
  • Evaluate success metrics and propose next steps for long-term sustainability.
  • Assess expansion with further social ecosystems e.g. Lens and Lukso

Budget Breakdown

Requested Funding: 15,000 LPT for a 6 month execution period.

Allocation:

  • Development & Engineering: 30%
  • Ecosystem Engagement & Partnerships: 30%
  • Marketing & Adoption: 25%
  • Operational Costs & Overhead: 10%
  • Bounties/External Contributors: 5%

The budget is structured to ensure sustainable development while incentivizing external contributions that align with the public goods nature of this project.

Deliverables

  • Fully functional mini-app with Livepeer-powered live streaming on Farcaster.
  • Open-source HLS playback integration for Farcaster Frames V2.
  • Creator and developer adoption metrics (e.g., active broadcasts, user engagement).
  • Technical documentation for ecosystem-wide integration.
  • Partnerships established with key ecosystem players (Base, Coinbase Wallet, Farcaster, onchain communities).
  • Quarterly reports on adoption and ecosystem impact.

Transparency & Accountability

To ensure accountability, the SPE will provide:

  • Quarterly progress reports outlining technical development, adoption metrics, and financial transparency.
  • Public-facing dashboards tracking key KPIs (e.g., number of active broadcasts, user engagement, developer adoption).
  • Community engagement updates via Farcaster, Livepeer DAO forums, and partner channels.

By maintaining a transparent approach, this SPE will foster trust and alignment with the broader ecosystem while ensuring the long-term success of web3 video.

Tokens will be held in a multisig wallet on Safe with multiple signers representing different entities.

Key Terms (Optional)

  • SPE (Special Purpose Entity): A designated structure for executing focused initiatives within the Livepeer ecosystem.
  • Farcaster Frames V2: A framework enabling interactive content experiences within the Farcaster ecosystem.
  • HLS (HTTP Live Streaming): A streaming protocol that enables adaptive video playback.
  • Coinbase Wallet Mini-Apps: A new integration layer allowing applications to run within Coinbase Wallet’s interface.

Conclusion

This SPE represents a critical opportunity to push web3 video forward, connecting Livepeer initially with Farcaster, Base, Coinbase Wallet, and then looking to expand to other web3 social ecosystems. By building foundational infrastructure and fostering ecosystem-wide adoption, this initiative will unlock new possibilities for decentralized media and onchain social. With dedicated funding, governance, and strategic execution, this project will establish web3 video as a key pillar of the decentralized internet.

3 Likes
11

Hey @nickhollins, I appreciate the detailed pre-proposal and have a couple of follow-up questions after reading the updated version:

  1. Are you familiar with streamm.tv and its Farcaster integration? In what ways will the UFO mini-app differ? (For reference, I’m linking to their GitHub Livepeer Grant Requests #262 and #289 and their Warpcast Frame)

  2. With regards to your adoption metrics deliverable and your KPIs, does the SPE have specific targets/numbers?

  3. What’s the current status of live video streaming use on Farcaster/Warpcast? And what technology/client is primarily used at the moment?

4 Likes
12

Hi @ChuckChain,

Thanks for the thoughtful questions. Yes, we’re familiar with streamm.tv and their Farcaster integration. Streamm is a general-purpose app that allows any Farcaster account to stream live, and they’re actively exploring additional features like tips, native tokens, and prediction markets.

1. How the UFO mini app is Complementary

  • Composable and Reusable Frames → The UFO mini app is a pilot for creating modular, reusable Farcaster Frames for live streaming that can be adapted by different projects.

  • Curated Experience → The UFO app will focus on curated broadcasts from UFO radio and network creators, producing a more intentional media experience.

  • Empowering Custom Broadcasts → The opportunity is in enabling other projects and creators to define their own unique live-streaming environments via Livepeer-powered Frames.

2. Adoption Metrics & Key KPIs

The Harmonic SPE is about owning the relationship between Livepeer, Farcaster, Base, and Coinbase Wallet and ensuring that decentralized video becomes a core layer of these ecosystems.

Beyond shipping a fully functional mini-app, here’s how we measure success:

  • Active Broadcasts → Number of live streams from UFO and external creators using the frame.

  • Engaged Users → Viewership and interactions across Warpcast, Coinbase Wallet, and beyond.

  • Developer & Project Adoption → Number of projects and builders creating their own live-streaming mini apps using this foundation.

3. Current Status of Live Streaming on Farcaster

At present, live video streaming is not widely adopted on Farcaster/Warpcast. Prior to Frames V2, integrating HLS playback wasn’t possible. There was no seamless way to embed live streaming into the Farcaster experience.

This is why the Harmonic SPE is important. We’re laying the technical foundation for live media to grow in onchain social. By integrating Livepeer-powered live video into Frames, Coinbase Wallet, and other interfaces, we’re ensuring that decentralized live streaming becomes a widely adopted feature of the Farcaster ecosystem.

Whether through UFO, Streamm, or future projects, the goal is the same: to make Livepeer the go-to infrastructure for streaming in the Superchain.

1 Like