On Decentralization

I have been in and out of the blockchain space since 2018, and throughout this time, I've come to believe its decentralization and antifragile nature could be promising for solving the internet's current hyper-centralization issues through properly strategized incentives. In reality though, the current implementation misses the mark – I wouldn't even say we're close to solving it. While I deeply believe in data ownership and internet deplatformization – whether through local-first approaches, open source, microblogging, or the small web – the current crypto landscape of NFTs, speculative tokens, and the chaotically unregulated markets has strayed from solving real problems for everyday users, instead only feeding the whales and opportunists.

The most glaring issue in decentralization today is content, particularly on social media. We're drowning in platforms, each demanding new accounts, credentials, and privacy agreements. Unlike B2B enterprises bound by strict data protection, social media giants treat our digital lives as their personal goldmine to sell targeted advertisement and shape our reality and perspective with extremely veiled & tailored algorithms.

As a result of that, decentralized social networking protocols has been gaining popularity, such as ActivityPub and the more recent ATProto, and on top of them the Fediverse & Mastodon and BlueSky, seem to offer a promising path forward: one account, your data, your storage, your domain. It's elegant in its simplicity. Contrast this with Web3's DID, DApps like Farcaster or the more archaic token-gating NFT approach to identity and access control – are all bloated solutions burdened with wallets, swaps, and multi-chain complexity. They've built an all-in-one answer to non-problems, driven more by memecoin speculation than genuine utility. Sound familiar to the autocratic control we see on certain newly-acquired social platforms?

Web3's current model grants outsized power to the largest token holders – essentially replicating the centralization we aimed to dismantle. Instead of rushing to monetize like the Venture Capital world, we need to focus on the fundamentals first. The erosion of data privacy, the rise of autocratic content moderation, and our fragmented digital identities are the real challenges we face. These aren't problems that can be solved by yet another token or blockchain – they require thoughtful utilitarian solutions that put users and collaborative moderation first.

The answer lies in giving users complete ownership of their data on their own devices, creating systems that are both portable and extensible, and developing a unified approach to digital identity. In an era where our online presence is inseparable from our identity, unplugging shouldn't mean losing a piece of ourselves. Our digital footprint is as much an asset as any physical possession. This is why I'm watching projects like Bluesky and ATProto with keen interest – they're tackling the core issues rather than chasing the next token pump with an transparent and open source approach.

The path to genuine decentralization isn't through speculation or shortcuts. It's through thoughtful architecture that puts users first, building systems that solve real problems rather than creating new ones in the name of profit.

-b