https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Graber
In 2015, Graber began working as a software engineer for SkuChain in Mountain View, California. She then worked in a factory in Moses Lake, Washington, where she soldered bitcoin mining equipment. In 2016, she began working as a junior developer for the Zcash cryptocurrency.
So lately I have been trying to figure out why people are calling BlueSky decentralized and I noticed that fun fact. It made me realize how cryptocurrencies are something else that was often technically “decentralized” but in reality controlled by a single person or group.
In case it’s also not known, Jack Dorsey who helped found BlueSky is a big cryptocurrency booster.
I keep seeing people ask why people call Bluesky decentralised. I never see people call Bluesky decentralised.
(Okay, “never” isn’t quite correct, I’ve seen the term used in relation to Bluesky maybe a handful of times but you make it sound like that’s their main selling point)
I find that surprising, because BlueSky uses that term: https://bsky.social/about/blog/02-22-2024-open-social-web
Jay Graeber herself described it as such.
Here is the Verge calling it decentralized: https://www.theverge.com/23686778/bluesky-ceo-jay-graber-interview-decentralized-social-media-twitter-mastodon
Here is NYT calling it decentralized: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/technology/bluesky-x-alternative.html
Here is CNN calling decentralized: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/28/tech/bluesky-social/
Yes, because it is, you can host your own server (pds, relay and UI) on like a 30$ vps.