Vitalik Buterin: 2026 will see a full return to decentralized social networking; competition and decentralization are the starting points for improving public discourse.

Vitalik Buterin stated that he plans to fully return to decentralized social networks in 2026, believing that a better society requires better large-scale communication tools. These tools should help people filter high-quality information and viewpoints, find consensus, and serve the long-term interests of users, rather than maximizing short-term interactions and emotional conflict. Vitalik pointed out that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution to these problems, but enhancing competition is an important starting point, and decentralization is a key path to achieving competition: through a shared data layer, anyone can build different clients on top of it. He revealed that since the beginning of this year, he has been using decentralized social tools for reading and posting, with all content synchronized across platforms such as X, Lens, Farcaster, and Bluesky via Firefly. He also criticized some crypto social projects for deviating from their original purpose, excessively viewing "token issuance" as innovation, and attempting to create price bubbles around individuals to incentivize creators. However, practice shows that such models often reward existing social capital rather than content quality, and the token lifespan is short. Vitalik emphasized that money and social interaction are not inherently conflicting; the key lies in whether they truly serve the content itself, such as a subscription-based support model, rather than being designed as a speculative asset. In his view, decentralized social networking should be driven by teams genuinely concerned with the "essence of social interaction." Vitalik acknowledged the Aave team's long-term maintenance of Lens and expressed anticipation for the direction of the new team, believing they are more focused on solving real social problems. He stated that in the coming year, he will be more vocal on decentralized social platforms and encourage more users to participate in ecosystems like Lens and Farcaster, moving beyond the information-confrontational environment of a single platform and exploring new forms of interaction.