AT Protocol and decentralisation
If Bluesky shut their doors tomorrow what would happen to AT Protocol? That's why I haven't built anything on AT Protocol.
I posted this the other day and feel like I should have explained myself better.
I know that technically AT Protocol and Bluesky are separate and I know that there are other applications that have been built on AT Protocol. I also know that the goal is for AT Protocol to be completely decentralised and distributed and independent from Bluesky. My doubt is more about whether that has actually been achieved yet, and whether or not a certain invisible threshold of true independence has been crossed.
My understanding is that Bluesky (the company) pays the salaries of the majority—if not all—of the contributors to the protocol. They also run the majority of relays. If Bluesky were to go under tomorrow, would development on AT Protocol continue? Would there be enough relays left running to sustain it? Whether there is any incentive for individuals or other entities to run relays remains an open question for me.
I think that, as of today, if you're going to build on the AT Protocol, you have to believe in the vision and have a certain amount of faith that this threshold of true decentralisation will be reached in the future.