diff --git a/services/tunnelbroker/src/token_distributor/notif_utils.rs b/services/tunnelbroker/src/token_distributor/notif_utils.rs
--- a/services/tunnelbroker/src/token_distributor/notif_utils.rs
+++ b/services/tunnelbroker/src/token_distributor/notif_utils.rs
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 
   let sender_name = conversation
     .participant(message.sender_fid)
-    .map(|u| u.display_name.as_str());
+    .map(|u| u.username.as_deref().unwrap_or(&u.display_name));
   let title = conversation
     .name
     .as_deref()
diff --git a/shared/tunnelbroker_messages/src/messages/farcaster.rs b/shared/tunnelbroker_messages/src/messages/farcaster.rs
--- a/shared/tunnelbroker_messages/src/messages/farcaster.rs
+++ b/shared/tunnelbroker_messages/src/messages/farcaster.rs
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@
 pub struct DirectCastUser {
   pub fid: u64,
   pub display_name: String,
-  pub username: String,
+  pub username: Option<String>,
   pub pfp: Option<ProfilePicture>,
 
   // NOTE: This is not a full payload, some fields were omitted