# YOU CALL THIS DECENTRALIZED?

By [D](https://paragraph.com/@d-32) · 2025-07-31

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They said it was open. Permissionless. Borderless. But when you knock on the door, there's no handle, just whispers.

No invitation? No access. No real name? You're suspicious. No funding? You’re invisible. You want in? You need to kiss a VC’s ass.

And yet they say this is freedom. A new internet, they claimed where power is dissolved. But the circles are tighter than ever. Even the founders hide behind pseudonyms while gatekeeping the gates.

You needed an invite. You had to doxx. You had to prove you're not a bot, but definitely not too anonymous. You had to kiss a VC’s ass. You had to whisper your dreams to a gatekeeper hiding behind a Discord avatar.

They said this place was open. But the door is invisible. And when you reach for the handle, it slides a little further away. Decentralized? You mean permissioned freedom?

Web3 was supposed to be a void. A place without kings. Now it’s full of monarchs who farm your “decentralized” desperation.

This isn't decentralization. This is a masquerade. And you're not on the guest list.

You want names? Funny. That’s the first thing they erased. Now they wear tokens, not titles. They don’t knock. They gatekeep. They whisper behind JPEGs and reward the ones who never ask.

Freedom wears a mask now. And the password is your soul.

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*Originally published on [D](https://paragraph.com/@d-32/you-call-this-decentralized)*