In early 2026, Vitalik Buterin, co‑founder of Ethereum, said decentralised applications are now practical and named three live projects on X, arguing they advance the original web3 vision (he wrote). He has posted repeatedly on X about the importance, of, and decentralisation, and noted “In 2014, decentralised applications were toys, hundreds of times more difficult to use [than] web2.”
Buterin highlighted Fileverse as a usable, encrypted alternative to Google Workspace and said, “In 2026, Fileverse is now usable enough that I regularly write documents in it and send them to other people to collaborate” (he wrote). He added that “Fileverse is an excellent example of the right way to do things” and that “Even if Fileverse disappears, you can still retrieve [the documents] and even keep editing them with the open source UI.”
He also cited privacy‑focused wallets: Status, a self‑custody wallet with encrypted messaging, and Railway Wallet, described as a private DeFi wallet. Buterin contrasted these decentralised tools with mass‑market devices that collect data or lock features behind subscriptions, citing examples of smart appliances that track users (smart device tracking) and subscription‑locked dishwashers (dishwasher subscription) (Ed. note: he used such examples to highlight privacy tradeoffs).
“The decentralized renaissance is coming, and you can be part of making it happen.”
