Ethereum Co-founder Wants to Help Jack Dorsey Decentralize Twitter

Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey is an outspoken Bitcoin fan, and his belief in the promise of decentralized technology is a big reason why Twitter is preparing for a potential future move away from centralized service.

He reaffirmed that belief this week when explaining his reasoning behind the platform’s recent ban of US president Donald Trump for inciting violence. Dorsey mentioned the social media company’s plan to hire open source developers and engineers for its Blue Sky initiative, to help devise a potential decentralized future for social media.

However, the tweet thread prompted a crypto heavyweight to chime in on the subject of decentralized social media. Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano and co-founder of Ethereum, replied to Dorsey encouraging him to open up development on Blue Sky to the community—because he’s apparently working on something in that department.

“We are working on something Jack. You shouldn't build this in-house,” he replied. “Make it an open source project and our entire industry can contribute.”

Although the Blue Sky initiative is specifically looking for open-source developers and Dorsey affirmed that they will work on “an open decentralized standard for social media,” it’s unclear just how open development will be and how involved the wider community will be.

It’s unclear what Hoskinson is working on in the social media realm, but it likely would be connected to the Cardano blockchain. Decrypt reached out to IOHK, the organization behind Cardano’s development, for any additional information or perspective from Hoskinson. We will update this story if we hear back.

Dorsey’s tweet thread acknowledged what he saw as a need to act on banning Trump’s account based on the potential of real-world violence. "I believe this was the right decision for Twitter," he wrote. "We faced an extraordinary and untenable circumstance, forcing us to focus all of our actions on public safety. Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all."

Ultimately, however, Dorsey concluded that social media and hosting companies denying access to controversial voices will be “destructive to the noble purpose and ideals of the open internet” in the long term. He cited Bitcoin as being representative of his vision for the internet to come.

“The reason I have so much passion for #Bitcoin is largely because of the model it demonstrates: a foundational internet technology that is not controlled or influenced by any single individual or entity,” Dorsey tweeted. “This is what the internet wants to be, and over time, more of it will be.”