Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin mentioned he plans to totally recommit to decentralized social media in 2026, arguing that solely platforms constructed on shared, decentralized knowledge layers can foster actual competitors and help mass communication programs aligned with customers’ pursuits fairly than engagement metrics.
In a Wednesday post on X, Buterin mentioned he has shifted his exercise towards decentralized social platforms this 12 months, noting that each submit he has written or learn in 2026 has been accessed by Firefly, a multi-client interface that helps X, Lens, Farcaster and Bluesky.
“If we wish a greater society, we’d like higher mass communication instruments,” Buterin mentioned, arguing that decentralization allows competitors by permitting a number of purchasers to function on a shared social knowledge layer.
Buterin criticized many crypto-native social initiatives for counting on speculative tokens as an alternative choice to significant innovation, arguing that SocialFi experiments have repeatedly failed by rewarding pre-existing social capital and short-term value hypothesis as an alternative of content material high quality and constructive discourse.
He contrasted these efforts with creator-subscription fashions akin to Substack, which he mentioned higher align incentives round high-quality content material.
Calling for broader neighborhood participation, Buterin urged customers and builders to spend extra time in decentralized social ecosystems, saying the business should transfer past a single centralized “data warzone” and towards a extra aggressive frontier the place new types of on-line interplay can emerge.
Associated: Vitalik Buterin calls for a new DAO design for onchain disputes and governance
The state of decentralized social media
Decentralized social media, or SocialFi, refers to platforms constructed on open or blockchain-based networks the place person identities, content material and social graphs will not be managed by a single firm. Whereas protocols akin to Lens and Farcaster have gained early traction, the sector has to date struggled to transform that momentum into sustained mass-market adoption.
On Wednesday, core infrastructure supplier Neynar acquired Farcaster from Merkle. Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero announced the information, saying that “after 5 years, it’s clear Farcaster wants a brand new strategy and management to succeed in its full potential.”
Lens additionally underwent a leadership transition this week, as Aave transferred stewardship of the open-source social protocol to Masks Community, tasking the Web3 social firm with advancing consumer-ready, onchain social purposes.
Farcaster options greater than two million whole registered customers and a whole bunch of hundreds of every day interactions, measured by posts and reactions. Lens has amassed about 506,000 customers, in response to Dune Analytics knowledge.
