Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said he plans to fully switch his public activity to decentralized social platforms in 2026 and expects broader benefits for open dialogue.

Platform use and workflow

Buterin already reads and posts through the multi-client Firefly, which aggregates streams from X, Lens, Farcaster and Bluesky. He indicated an intention to increase his output on Lens, moving more of his writing to that protocol.

Critique of tokenized social projects

He criticized crypto social projects that build around personal tokenization, arguing such models tend to reward speculation rather than content quality and eventually lose value. According to his assessment, token-based incentives can misalign creator priorities and audience expectations.

Proposed alternatives for creator support

As a practical alternative, Buterin named subscriptions and direct funding as preferable mechanisms to sustain authors. He suggested that recurring payments and direct patronage better align incentives with content quality and long-term engagement.

Implications for public discourse

Buterin framed the shift toward decentralized layers as necessary for competitive ecosystems and resilient public conversation, where users are less dependent on single centralized operators and data silos.