Building anything decentralized in 2026, is an insane uphill battle. You’re constantly compared to centralized alternatives that are 1000x more well resourced. You have to work way harder to reproduce a thing that’s easy to do in a centralized way. The cost is significantly higher. The simplest contract change requires a new round of audits. In a centralized system, that same change is quick overnight tweak to the code running on a local server. Users don’t appreciate it until it’s too late. And even when they’re reminded why it matters, they forget quickly after cuz they have goldfish memory. There’s no longer a value premium for doing anything in a decentralized way, and often there’s a discount applied. It just takes a lot of commitment to stick by decentralization in 2026. If you’re building something that optimizes for decentralization in this era, you’re in a unique crowd. A minority. Ppl will crack jokes about you on X. They’ll discourage you. They’ll dismiss you. They’ll say you shouldn’t exist because the centralized options are sufficient. You need real heart and determination to build for decentralization in 2026. But if you can weather through it and stay committed, eventually ppl will appreciate what you built. They’ll be grateful because this industry derives its purpose from the values of decentralization. Every so often, the crowd returns to it its roots. And when they do, you’ll gey your recognition. It ain’t much, but it’s honest work.