The blockchain hype fell apart. Which is good, given that it bears no resemblance to reality, and came less from practical applications of the idea and more the one that blockchain tech was 'magic' and was going to magically fix every industry in existence. Companies sprung up based on blockchains and crypotcurrencies and what not that didn't need them in the slightest, and where their only reason for existence was 'get VCs to invest/hype up gulliable people on Reddit'.
But blockchains have their uses, and those where they do work well will hopefully be done better without the lunacy. Decentralisation isn't dead/falling apart either, and in that sense... well I think its time is still coming.
After all, privacy is a hot topic now. Facebook and Google are getting lots of bad press. Mastodon is (somewhat slowly) taking off. The ingredients are there for change, and at the end of the day, it's really just UI + network effect holding it back now. If someone made a good decentralised Facebook/Reddit/YouTube alternative, I definitely feel it could capture the market. Anger is building up with these sites, and the more they force ideologies/censor/shut down people and groups for corporations the more popular an alternative will be. Heck, I feel the time may be right for a decentralised Patreon competitor right now. Imagine a way to support creators which VISA/Mastercard have no easy way to stop, which makes PayPal and co irrelevant and cannot be shut down by angry Twitter posts. That may come up in a few years or so.
But yeah, blockchain hype fell apart, some decentralisation hype fell apart, but blockchain as a concept still has its uses and decentralisation could still have its time to shine.
But blockchains have their uses, and those where they do work well will hopefully be done better without the lunacy. Decentralisation isn't dead/falling apart either, and in that sense... well I think its time is still coming.
After all, privacy is a hot topic now. Facebook and Google are getting lots of bad press. Mastodon is (somewhat slowly) taking off. The ingredients are there for change, and at the end of the day, it's really just UI + network effect holding it back now. If someone made a good decentralised Facebook/Reddit/YouTube alternative, I definitely feel it could capture the market. Anger is building up with these sites, and the more they force ideologies/censor/shut down people and groups for corporations the more popular an alternative will be. Heck, I feel the time may be right for a decentralised Patreon competitor right now. Imagine a way to support creators which VISA/Mastercard have no easy way to stop, which makes PayPal and co irrelevant and cannot be shut down by angry Twitter posts. That may come up in a few years or so.
But yeah, blockchain hype fell apart, some decentralisation hype fell apart, but blockchain as a concept still has its uses and decentralisation could still have its time to shine.