Vitalik Buterin Prioritizes Decentralized Social Media in 2026
News
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said he intends to prioritize decentralized social media in 2026, asserting that platforms built on shared, decentralized data layers are better positioned to foster competition and support large-scale communication aligned with user interests rather than engagement metrics.
In a Wednesday post on X, Buterin said he has shifted his activity toward decentralized social platforms this year, adding that every post he has written or read in 2026 has been accessed through Firefly, a multi-client interface that supports X, Lens, Farcaster and Bluesky.
Source: Vitalik Buterin
Buterin criticized several crypto-focused social initiatives for relying on speculative tokens instead of product innovation, noting that successive SocialFi experiments have tended to reward existing social capital and short-term price speculation rather than content quality or constructive dialogue. He contrasted these efforts with creator-subscription models such as Substack, which he said offer stronger alignment around high-quality output.
Encouraging broader participation, Buterin urged users and developers to spend more time in decentralized social environments, arguing that the sector should move beyond a single centralized “info warzone” toward a more competitive landscape where new forms of online interaction can develop.
Decentralized social media landscape
Decentralized social media, often referred to as SocialFi, encompasses platforms built on open or blockchain-based networks where user identities, content, and social graphs are not controlled by a single entity. Protocols such as Lens and Farcaster have shown early traction, but the sector has struggled to translate that momentum into sustained, mainstream adoption.
On Wednesday, core infrastructure provider Neynar acquired Farcaster from Merkle. Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero announced the deal, stating that after five years, the project requires a different approach and leadership to achieve its full potential.
Lens also saw a leadership change this week, as Aave transferred stewardship of the open-source social protocol to Mask Network, assigning the Web3 social company to advance consumer-ready, onchain social applications.
Farcaster reports more than two million total registered users and hundreds of thousands of daily interactions, measured by posts and reactions. Lens has accumulated about 506,000 users, according to Dune Analytics data.
Source: Dune Analytics
Source: Dune Analytics
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