Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin Going All-In on Decentralized Social Media as Farcaster, Lens Change Hands
Vitalik Buterin announced his intention to return fully to decentralized social media by 2026, advocating for better mass communication tools that serve users’ long-term interests rather than maximizing short-term engagement. He emphasized that decentralization, with a shared data layer enabling anyone to build their own client, is key to advancing online discourse. Buterin’s comments followed major leadership changes at two leading decentralized social platforms: Lens Protocol’s stewardship transferring to Mask Network and Farcaster’s assets moving to Neynar. Both changes involve original teams stepping back and new strategic directions for each platform, focusing respectively on consumer-focused execution and a builder-oriented vision. Buterin criticized the crypto industry’s reliance on speculative tokens as pseudo-innovation, stressing that the priority for decentralized social projects should be genuinely addressing the social needs of users. Farcaster’s shift comes after its prior $1 billion valuation and growth efforts failed to sustain momentum, prompting a new focus on wallet development. Neither Lens nor Farcaster currently has a native token.
