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Spacebar Community Update 2026 Q1

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Spacebar Devlog: 2025 Recap & The Path to 2026

Date: January 2026 Topic: 2025 Retrospective, The Pivot to Discovery, and Q1 Roadmap

Hello Explorers,

Happy New Year. We hope you are ready for what comes next.

Over the past year, we've been heads-down, taking a hard look at what we're building, why we're building it, and what it really takes to win. The result has been a period of sharpening: fewer distractions, clearer conviction, and a stronger foundation for what Spacebar is becoming.

As we kick off 2026, we want to share exactly where we stand and where we are going.

1/ The 2025 Reset

2025 was, by many measures, a difficult year for the broader market. We saw crypto gaming lose momentum while attention shifted decisively toward infrastructure: perp DEXs, stablecoins, RWAs, and core DeFi.

For us, this environment forced an honest reset. Earlier iterations of Spacebar experimented with trends and short-term engagement loops. While those efforts helped us learn fast, they revealed a hard truth: building something meaningful in crypto requires patience and utility, not just reacting to the "next big thing."

2025 became our year of transition: From chasing momentum → To building utility.

2/ Our Thesis for 2026: Conviction vs. Fads

Spacebar is now being built around a simple thesis: Ecosystem discovery should be easy. We are building the place where you can quickly understand what matters in an ecosystem, act with confidence, and participate meaningfully, without the noise.

  • Discovery First: We aren't forcing governance or complex mechanics prematurely. We are tightening the product loop first.
  • Step-by-Step Evolution: We will validate discovery and incentives under real user behavior, expanding governance only once the system is stable.
  • Scaling Utility: Once the right user experience is proven, we expand. We are focusing on doing one thing extremely well before scaling to broader ecosystems.

3/ New Website Live

We've relaunched our website at spacebar.xyz. (Docs: docs.spacebar.xyz)

The new site reflects our refined direction. It is less about hype and more about the tools you need for discovery, participation, and experimentation.

4/ Building as an AI-Native Team

You may have noticed our shipping velocity changing. Over the last year, we made deliberate decisions to streamline our operations and restructure how we build.

  • Streamlined Leadership: Christy has shifted focus to high-level strategy and vision, while Joony leads execution as CEO. This gives our technical team a faster, singular reporting line.
  • The AI-Native Workflow: Today, Spacebar is built by a small, highly focused core team of 6 full-time builders. We operate as an AI-native organization, with AI integrated across planning, documentation, development, and design.

This shift allows our developers to operate closer to full-stack and our planners to execute creative tasks faster. It means we can move quickly and maintain high shipping velocity without the bloat of a massive organization. Every output is accelerated by AI, but reviewed, refined, and owned by us.

5/ What's Next: Q1 Roadmap

Our immediate focus is the Spacebar Testnet launch on Hyperliquid, currently targeted for March 2026.

We are building Spacebar to be the discovery layer for the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Here is what you can expect in the Testnet:

1. Spacebar Core (Utility) The central engine for discovery.

  • Upload and cross-verify apps and services.
  • Access core Hyperliquid services (including staking via our validator, HypurrCorea).
  • Participate in data-driven discovery and key-holder governed visibility.

2. OuterSpace (Engagement) The entertainment layer that keeps exploration fun.

  • Treasure hunts for hidden "Keys."
  • Mining mechanisms for distributing tokens.
  • Treasure capsules containing in-game items and loot.

3. Backspace (Identity) Your user profile layer.

  • Curate your favorite Hyperliquid apps.
  • Connect multiple wallets (read-only) for a unified view.
  • Personalized influence on discovery rankings.

Looking Ahead

We plan to experiment on the Hyperliquid testnet for as long as needed to get this right. Once our discovery and incentive models are validated, we will move to mainnet and expand Spacebar to additional L1 and L2 ecosystems.

2025 tested us. 2026 is about execution. Thank you for building with us.

Team AO Building Spacebar