Decentralizing Our Future
Imagine a future where our online relationships are no longer dictated by corporate giants or state-controlled systems, where you decide how to connect, who to trust, and where to store your data. This is the vision of Pubky: a decentralized, user-first web that breaks the toxic cycle of dependency on Big Tech, Big State, and Big Banks.
Pubky is not just a platform—it is an ecosystem designed to provide tools for communication, social coordination, identity management, and, eventually, financial freedom, all in one interconnected framework. Pubky will harness the power of decentralized identity, censorship resistance, semantic social graphs, and Bitcoin and Lightning Network technology to create an open web that prioritizes user autonomy.
Replacing Big Tech: Credible Exit, Censorship Resistance, and User-Controlled Experience
Big Tech platforms like social media giants use algorithms that limit freedom, exploit engagement, and control the flow of information. Pubky proposes a different kind of web—one built on Semantic Social Graphs and self-sovereign identities. Instead of opaque algorithms deciding what is relevant to you, Semantic Social Graphs and PKARR give users full control over their digital interactions. This system gives control back to individuals, helping replace our toxic relationship with Big Tech.
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PKARR for Credible Exit and Censorship Resistance: With PKARR, users can create decentralized identities that allow them to leave any service without losing their content, identity, or relationships. PKARR also makes censorship resistance possible by ensuring that users’ identities are independent of any specific server. This means users can migrate to other services when needed, maintaining their control and avoiding censorship.
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Semantic Social Graphs for Personalized Control: Semantic Social Graphs empower users by allowing them to enrich their relationships, determine trustworthiness, and organize content in a meaningful way. Users choose what they see, whom they trust, and how information flows within their network.
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Pubky App for User-Controlled Feeds: The Pubky App allows users to decide which data appears in their feeds. Unlike traditional platforms where algorithms push content for maximum engagement, Pubky gives users the power to tag, filter, and prioritize the content that matters most to them. This approach replaces toxic algorithms with user-defined preferences, ensuring a healthier online experience.
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Homeservers for Decentralized Hosting: Homeservers allow for decentralized data hosting and competitive hosting services by enabling users to migrate away from any server that changes its policies or restricts their content. This means that censorship is anticipated and dealt with, allowing users to keep control over their digital presence.
Replacing Big State: Self-Sovereign Identity and Peer Regulation
Governments often use centralized systems to control speech, monitor user activity, and dictate identity management. Pubky provides an alternative—a decentralized network that makes censorship impractical and gives users self-sovereign identity. With Pubky, PKARR (Public Key Addressable Roles and Resources), Mainline DHT, and Semantic Social Graphs ensure that users are empowered to self-regulate, verify authenticity, and maintain control of their identities without relying on centralized authorities. This means:
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Self-Sovereign Identity with PKARR: Pubky allows users to create key-based identities using PKARR, giving them the freedom to establish and manage their identities without permission from any central entity. Users can choose whether to remain anonymous or become publicly identifiable, and no central authority can revoke or control their identity.
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Decentralized Directory with Mainline DHT: Mainline DHT acts as a distributed directory, helping users locate and connect with each other without relying on a centralized server. This peer-to-peer system ensures that users are always discoverable by those they trust, even in the face of censorship attempts.
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Semantic Social Graphs for Peer Regulation: Pubky’s Semantic Social Graphs are key to creating an environment of self-regulation among users. By allowing users to add context, trust levels, and tags to their connections, Pubky provides the foundation for automating business logic on top of graph metadata and relationships. This means that users can set the rules for how they interact with others, creating systems of accountability and shared trust that do not depend on external regulation.
In this way, Pubky replaces the need for a centralized authority (the “Big State”) by empowering users to be self-sovereign and enabling communities to regulate themselves. Pubky provides the tools to make censorship difficult and autonomy possible—giving users the power to govern their online interactions and identities independently.
Replacing Big Banks: Competing with Fiat and Enabling Financial Freedom
Beyond communication and social interaction, Synonym also seeks to empower individuals financially. Our reliance on Big Banks and centralized financial systems means losing autonomy over our own wealth. Pubky envisions a future where financial freedom is possible through the use of Bitcoin and the Lightning Network to decouple payments from hosted platforms and middlemen.
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Bitcoin creates competition for fiat currencies and traditional speculative investments by offering a decentralized, permissionless currency. Users are in full control of their funds, able to send or receive value directly from their own wallets, free from the constraints of centralized banking institutions.
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Bitkit Mobile Wallet: Synonym, creators of Pubky, also offers the Bitkit mobile wallet, which supports Bitcoin, Lightning, and soon Pubky features, providing a unified solution for users to manage their identities, financial transactions, and online presence—all in a decentralized manner.
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Commerce features and tools are planned for future versions of Pubky, with a long term goal of a totally dynamic digital social economy!
A Future of Freedom and Autonomy
Our vision is simple: to build a digital world where individuals are in charge, rather than corporations or governments. By integrating decentralized identities, censorship-resistant technologies, and financial independence, we can replace our toxic dependency on centralized powers with an open, user-controlled web.
Imagine a future where your data, your identity, and your financial assets are truly yours. Where you decide what to share, whom to trust, and how to connect—without any company or government watching over your shoulder. Synonym is building this future, creating an internet that works for people, not against them.
Join us in this movement toward decentralization, censorship resistance, and true digital autonomy.