You’re mixing up the bootstrap server with the actual architecture.
Yes, most users are on pubky.app right now. We’re early, so of course there’s a default host. That’s onboarding convenience, not a system dependency.
Your account isn’t “on pubky.app.”
Your identity lives via PKDNS in the millions of DHT nodes that do already exist. Your pubkey points to where your data is hosted, and that location is controlled by YOU.
So if you leave pubky.app, or Synonym's server, you don’t lose your identity, nor your continuity of threads, etc. You just point your key at a new homeserver (self-hosted, private, paid, all are supported). Same key, same social graph, new data location.
The DHT’s job is just like DNS. It answers “where do I find this user’s data?” It’s not meant to carry traffic or connect devices.
If Synonym disappeared tomorrow, users would lose a popular host, not their identities. They’d re-host, update their record, and carry on.
That’s we separate the parts:
- PKDNS
- homeservers
- indexers/apps
So decentralization isn’t “how many homeservers exist today,” it’s whether users are willing to self-host if no one else will host them.
The protocol itself, the entire system, is decentralized, but it supports centralization safely because PKDNS provides a credible exit path, unlike any other system.
