Mood ✊ Cypherpunks created permissionless technology to escape (government) control, not to seek its approval. But now that governments are embracing crypto, we tend to build systems that look like crypto on the surface, yet aren’t truly decentralized underneath. In our rush for adoption, we’re trading censorship resistance for compliance, sovereignty for convenience, decentralization for scalability. We’re starting to call things "crypto" that still require permission to use. The irony is brutal: permissionless technology is being replaced just as it’s becoming socially acceptable. We’re building infrastructures that may one day deny us access, and by then, it’ll be too late. In chasing sleek interfaces, mainstream adoption, and regulatory approval, we may lose the plot. What once was a movement for freedom could become a market for convenience. But comfort today might mean control tomorrow. What we call progress may turn out, in hindsight, to be the quiet undoing of everything cypherpunks fought for. And the worst part? We’ll realize it only when permission is denied.